Andre Brown Exiled to 30 years in federal prison for use of a firearm in a drug related murder

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Andre Brown, also known as “Fat Eric,” age 30, of Baltimore, today to 30 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for use of a firearm in a drug trafficking crime resulting in death, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

“Crimes get solved when we treat every prosecution as a part of a bigger picture instead of a stand-alone case,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “This case reveals a lot about why there are so many murders in Baltimore, but it also proves that we can track down the killers and hold them accountable through coordinated intelligence-gathering and proactive investigations.”

According to the statement of facts presented to the court as part of the guilty plea, from at least 1996 through December 2001, Jermaine Bell was the leader of a narcotics trafficking organization known as “R-N-G” which distributed heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine at multiple street-level shops in the vicinity of Reisterstown Road and Gwynn Falls Parkway in Baltimore City. The heroin was sold under a number of brand names, including “Brick City” and “Black and White.” During a dispute over drug territory, Bell issued contracts for the murder of the leader of a rival drug organization and his associates, including a $25,000 contract for the murder of Angelo Stringfellow.

On June 26, 2001, Sean Victor Sterling drove Brown and several other co-conspirators to look for Angelo Stringfellow so they could kill him. According to the statement of facts and witness testimony at Sterling’s trial, using guns hidden in the sun roof of Sterling’s car, Brown and a co-conspirator shot Stringfellow after they found him sitting in a car near “Club Bunns” in the 600 block of West Lexington Street. Sterling drove the co-conspirators away from the scene. Stringfellow died several hours later from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body. A woman standing outside the car was also shot and wounded.

Jermaine Bell, age 33, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to the same charge in relation to the murder of Angelo Stringfellow. Sean Sterling, age 31, of Parkville, was convicted by a federal jury of two counts of use of a firearm in a drug trafficking crime resulting in death, including the murder of Angelo Stringfellow. Bell and Sterling face a maximum sentence of life in prison at their sentencing, scheduled for December 23, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. and February 19, 2009 at 3:30 p.m., respectively. The remaining co-defendants have all pleaded guilty to their roles in murders related to the R-N-G drug organization.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office - Homicide Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Baltimore Police Department for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Weinstein, Tonya Kelly Kowitz and Gregory Welsh, who prosecuted the case.