Clay Man Sentenced on Federal Drug and Gun Convictions

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Eugene Gilbert, age 30, of Clay, New York was sentenced yesterday to serve ten (10) years in federal prison for his convictions for distribution and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division.

As part of his previous guilty plea, Gilbert admitted that on November 4, 2021, he led DEA Special Agents and other law enforcement officers on a high-speed vehicular chase on Interstate 81 north as they attempted to execute search warrants on his vehicle, his person, and his residence in Clay, New York. Pursuing agents located Gilbert’s Dodge Ram pickup truck abandoned near the Village of Parish. Gilbert left a bag containing 50 grams of cocaine, 39 grams of cocaine base, and 6 grams of fentanyl, as well as a loaded 9mm pistol in a nearby dumpster, where they were recovered by DEA Special Agents. The defendant was later arrested on December 17, 2021, after a second vehicle pursuit through Syracuse, Dewitt, and on Interstate 81 south after he fled from a United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force. As part of his guilty plea, Gilbert further admitted distributing fentanyl on four separate instances between October 14, 2021, and November 2, 2021.

Gilbert was also sentenced yesterday to a post-prison term of supervised release of 5 years.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, the Syracuse Police Department, the Metro-Jefferson Drug Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol, the New York State Police, the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Marshals Service investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick.