FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 21, 2011
DETROIT MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON ON ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF A FIREARM AND DRUG CHARGES
Kenyoda Holmes, 20, of Detroit, was sentenced today to 72 months in prison by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston for possession of a firearm and distribution of heroin. On November 6, 2010, Holmes was arrested in the Charleston Town Center Mall by law enforcement officers with the Charleston Police Department on outstanding warrants from Kanawha County Magistrate Court. During a search incident to arrest, officers located a Markarov 9-millimeter firearm with one bullet in the chamber and a fully loaded magazine in the defendant’s pants. At the time the defendant possessed the firearm, he had been convicted of a felony offense in Wayne County Third Judicial Court in Detroit on or about April 12, 2008 and had not petitioned to have his rights to carry a firearm restored. On January 7, 2011, detectives with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team utilized a confidential informant to make a controlled purchase of heroin from the defendant. Holmes admitted that he agreed to sell the informant a quantity of heroin in exchange for $150. The defendant further admitted to meeting the informant at the Fruth Pharmacy located in Charleston, where he sold the informant a quantity of heroin in exchange for $150.
The Charleston Police Department and the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Monica Dillon handled the prosecution.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.
