Armed Career Criminal Exiled to 15 Years in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced Thurmon Dominick Brown, age 25, of Owings Mills, Maryland, yesterday to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, after being convicted of illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Nickerson enhanced Brown’s sentence upon finding he was an armed career criminal, based on three previous convictions for second degree assault and for drug-trafficking.

According to testimony at his three day trial, on May 18, 2008, two plainclothes Baltimore City police detectives were on patrol when they noticed Thurmon Brown standing near the open passenger door of a blue 1996 Lincoln, near the 2600 block of Loyola Southway.

The officers got out of their police vehicle and approached Brown, whom they knew from previous encounters. The detectives and Brown engaged in a brief conversation and Brown permitted the officers to conduct a pat-down. Brown was found free of any weapons or contraband and left the area. According to evidence presented at trial, the detectives noticed that the engine of the now-empty car was running. The detectives looked through the windows of the car and saw part of a handgun protruding from a storage flap on the rear of the front passenger seat. The officers retrieved and secured a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic handgun loaded with fifteen rounds and one round in the chamber, indicating that it was ready to fire.

After recovering the handgun, the officers conducted a complete search of the car and found documents in the car in the name of Thurmon Brown, including: a cell phone bill for a telephone in Brown’s name; an MVA change of address form in Brown’s name; and numerous receipts for auto repair work for the Lincoln, again in the name of Brown. Brown never returned to the Lincoln that day and officers did not see him following the recovery of the gun. A state arrest warrant was issued for Brown, charging unlawful possession of a firearm. On June 19, 2008, detectives saw Brown driving the same blue Lincoln and arrested him on the outstanding warrant. At the police station, Brown told the detectives that he had purchased the gun from a drug addict for $400.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and Assistant State’s Attorneys Christopher Sandmann and Nancy Olin, the Baltimore Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel M Yasser and Michael C. Hanlon, who prosecuted the case.