Armed Heroin Dealer Sentenced To 262 Months In Prison

Charles E. Peeler, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announces that Darren Shawn Smith, age 49, of Athens, Georgia, was sentenced to 262 months imprisonment for possession with intent to distribute heroin and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking by United States District Court Judge C. Ashley Royal in Athens, Georgia on January 4, 2018.

In his plea agreement, Mr. Smith admitted that on November 18, 2016, officers from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department executed a search warrant on his home in Athens, Georgia.  As officers took Mr. Smith into custody, they found he was in possession of a loaded .380 caliber pistol and a quantity of heroin.  Additional heroin was found in Mr. Smith’s residence, along with indications of drug distribution.  Mr. Smith has a lengthy criminal history, including previous state felony convictions for Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault with Intent to Rob, Robbery by Intimidation, Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute, Burglary, Criminal Attempt to Commit Burglary, and Theft by Receiving Stolen Property.

“Darren Shawn Smith is the exact type of dangerous career criminal who should not be walking our streets armed with a firearm, yet that weapon is no deadlier than the drugs he possessed to sell in our community.  In this time when firearms violence and opioid addiction are so rampant, the United States Attorney’s Office shall prosecute all such offenders to the fullest extent of the law,” said United States Attorney Peeler.

Mr. Smith’s co-defendant Stacey Stewart was sentenced by Judge Royal on October 19, 2017 to 18 months in federal prison for Unlawful Use of a Communications Facility.

The case was investigated by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Peter D. Leary prosecuted the case for the Government.

Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.