United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

DALLAS MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 19 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON,
WITHOUT PAROLE, ON METH AND FIREARMS CONVICTION
IN PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS PROSECUTION

Defendant Arrested Following High Speed Chase

DALLAS - Michael Lynn Brashear, of Dallas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn to 230 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Brashear, 50, pled guilty in November 2006 to one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Brashear and his co-defendant Julius Flores, Jr., also of Dallas, have been in custody since their arrest by Dallas Police Department officers on September 5, 2005. Flores, 34, pled guilty to the same offense as Brashear and was sentenced in February to 195 months in prison.

On the morning of September 3, 2005, Dallas Police Department officers were in the vicinity of a suspected drug house on Fitchburg Drive in Dallas when they heard a gunshot and saw a 1991 Honda Accord leave the house at a high rate of speed, running a stop sign in the process. Michael Lynn Brashear drove the vehicle and Julius Flores, Jr. was seated in the backseat. A 15-year-old juvenile was in the front passenger’s seat.

Officers, in a marked unit, tried to stop the vehicle, however, a high-speed chase resulted with speeds reaching 100 miles per hour. During the course of the chase, officers saw Flores making furtive gestures in the backseat. After a five-mile chase, Brashear finally stopped the vehicle.

Officers discovered a large cache of assault rifle ammunition in the front seat area of the vehicle and a cache of firearms and illegal drugs in the backseat area. In the backseat of the vehicle officers discovered five loaded handguns, loaded extra magazines, and numerous rounds of ammunition, as well as a large quantity of methamphetamine, and quantities of cocaine, marijuana and pills. Three assault rifles, one of which was a machine gun, were discovered in the trunk of the vehicle.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Dallas Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, a federal program aimed toward the aggressive prosecution of gun crimes. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Tromblay.

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