DEVONNE M. LEE, 38, of Seattle, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 184 months’ imprisonment following his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute cocaine base (“crack”) and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

On February 11, 2007, LEE was arrested in Seattle, Washington, in the parking lot of a Safeway on Rainier Avenue South while engaged in “crack” cocaine sales. In the engine compartment of his vehicle, officers found 224 grams of cocaine base intended for distribution to others and a loaded Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol, with a high-capacity ammunition clip. $15,025 drug proceeds were also recovered. (CR 1)

At the time of arrest, LEE was on federal supervised release for a preceding federal conviction for distribution of cocaine base in 2000 in Tacoma, Washington, for which he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

In imposing the sentence of 15 years and 4 months, United States District Judge James L. Robart remarked upon the defendant’s “career as a drug salesman,” noting that LEE had compiled a record of over 33 convictions, including multiple drug trafficking convictions, and that such a sentence was “necessary to protect the public from further crimes by the defendant.”

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Seattle Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald J. Friedman.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

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