Even with a national herion addictions raging, Bruce Lamar Griggs, 22, appears a one-man epidemic. He is charged with heroin distribution in connection to 27 drug overdoses in five hours in Huntington, West Virginia.
He has been multiple counts of drug distribution.
He was identified by survivors. It is assumed that the heroin was laced with Fentanyl, an opioid used as part of anesthesia that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Other states are dealing with heroin laced with elephant tranquilizer. The drug is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine.
Why cut it? Can’t they just use natural ways to cut it?
Tin, There is good evidence many people w/ chronic pain can take pain meds for extended periods of time w/o addiction. Certainly they become dependent upon the meds, but not addicted. When a person starts mixing meds and booze, they are in BIG trouble. If they start chewing or snorting, BIG trouble. But a responsible person doesn’t engage in those addictive habits. That said, a person w/ that addictive personality, even if they are using pain meds for pain, will abuse if they don’t check themselves.
Obama Commutes 61 More Drug Offenders Sentences — More Than Previous Six Presidents Combined
by Charlie Spiering 30 Mar 2016716
President Obama will commute the sentences of 61 additional drug offenders serving prison time.
The White House announced the president’s decision this morning as well as the news that he plans to meet with former drug offenders who have also had their sentences commuted.
The offenders have been sentenced to prison for attempts to distribute and to possess cocaine, meth, heroin, PCP, and other drugs. Twelve of the commuted sentences were also convicted of firearm related offenses.
Obama commuted the sentences of 68 drug offenders in 2015, making drug sentencing reform a priority for his administration. All told, Obama has commuted the sentences of 248 individuals– more than the previous six presidents combined, according to the White House
“The power to grant pardons and commutations… embodies the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives that led to a conviction under our laws,” Obama said in his pardon letter.
He also visited non-violent drug offenders in prison in 2015 to call for more sentencing reform.
“That’s what strikes me, there but for the grace of God,” Obama said during the visit. “And that is something that we all have to think about.”
Yesterday, Obama admitted that although he used illegal drugs as a young person, he was “lucky” that he didn’t end up in prison or helplessly addicted.
“I was lucky. I don’t know why,” he said. “Friends of mine who ended up battling addiction were not less worthy or more morally suspect than I was. For whatever reason, things broke that way.”
The President granted commutations of sentence to the following 61 individuals:
· Henry Claude Agnew – Miami, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Southern District of Florida
Sentence: 262 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (November 24, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· David Lang Akana – Pahala, HI
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine; attempt to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; attempt to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; District of Hawaii
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (February 15, 2006)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Robert Anthony Anderson – Louisville, KY
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; attempt to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, aiding and abetting; Western District of Kentucky
Sentence: Life imprisonment (August 8, 1994)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on March 30, 2017.
· Marvin Bailey – Hollywood, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; aiding the travel in interstate commerce to promote the distribution of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; Southern District of West Virginia
Sentence: Life imprisonment; $25,000 fine (June 19, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on March 30, 2017, and unpaid balance of the $25,000 fine remitted.
· Bernard Beard – Compton, CA
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, heroin, and phencyclidine (PCP); felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; Central District of California
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (May 22, 2009)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Reginald Wendell Boyd, Jr. – Greensboro, NC
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride; carry a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime; Middle District of North Carolina
Sentence: 180 months’ imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (October 31, 2005)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Carmel Bretous – Miami, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to import at least five kilograms of cocaine; importation of five kilograms of cocaine; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine; Southern District of Florida
Sentence: 235 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (November 6, 2001)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Terry Brown – St. Louis, MO
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and phencyclidine (PCP); Eastern District of Missouri
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (July 7, 2005)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Willie Chevell Cameron – Panama City Beach, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, a mixture and substance containing cocaine, more than 50 grams of methamphetamine (actual) and more than 50 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine; Northern District of Florida
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (June 14, 2006)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Nathan Carter – Memphis, TN
Offense: 1. Possession of 121 grams cocaine with intent to distribute; possession of
65.8 grams cocaine base with intent to distribute; Western District of Tennessee
2. Supervised release violation (attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine); Western District of Tennessee
Sentence: 1. Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (April 30, 1999)
2. 30 months’ imprisonment; 18 months’ supervised release; $10,000 fine (May 5, 1999)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence for both offenses commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Lewis Clay – College Park, GA
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute and the distribution of at least 50 grams of crack cocaine; possession of cocaine; Northern District of Georgia
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (May 1, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Manuel Colon – Springfield, MA
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and heroin; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; District of Massachusetts
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (January 25, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Alvin Cordell – Cincinnati, OH
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana; attempt to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack); Southern District of Ohio
Sentence: Life imprisonment; $50,000 fine (May 5, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on March 30, 2017, and unpaid balance of the $50,000 fine remitted
· Kevin County – New Orleans, LA
Offense: 1. Distributing more than 100 grams of heroin; distributing less than 100
grams of heroin (two counts); Eastern District of Louisiana
2. Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and cocaine hydrochloride, distribution of cocaine base, distribution of cocaine hydrochloride, use of a communication facility in furtherance of a drug crime; Eastern District of Louisiana
Sentence: 1. 151 months’ imprisonment; six years’ supervised release (December 18, 2002)
2. 240 months’ imprisonment (concurrent); 10 years’ supervised release (March 26, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Nabar Moneek Criam – Brooklyn, NY
Offense: Possessed with intent to distribute crack; possessed firearms during trafficking crime; Middle District of North Carolina
Sentence: 180 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (March 30, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Amos Embress Cyrus – Hemingway, SC
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base; supervised release violation (Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine); District of South Carolina
Sentence: 300 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (June 21, 1996)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Roy Lee Debose – Shreveport, LA
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine hydrochloride; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Western District of Louisiana
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (September 18, 2000)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Dexter Lanoyd Dickens – Panama City, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine; distribution of a mixture or substance containing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school (four counts); principal to distribution and possession with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing cocaine; distribution and possession with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing cocaine; possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine; Northern District of Florida
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (December 17, 2004)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Andre Ester – Houston, TX
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; Southern District of Texas
Sentence: 300 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (October 25, 2002)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Christopher Tim Florence – Chapel Hill, NC
Offense: Possessed with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack); Middle District of North Carolina
Sentence: 268 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (August 9, 2005)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Ian Kavanaugh Gavin – Eight Mile, AL
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine; using/carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; Southern District of Alabama
Sentence: 180 months’ imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (March 8, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and supervised release term commuted to four years of supervised release.
· Isadore Gennings – Cincinnati, OH
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises; possession with intent to distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine; Southern District of Ohio
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (March 14, 2002)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and supervised release term commuted to five years of supervised release.
· Lamont Durville Glass – Knoxville, TN
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; felon in possession of a firearm; Eastern District of Tennessee
Sentence: 262 months’ imprisonment; eight years’ supervised release (January 9, 1998)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Vander Keith Gore – Little River, SC
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base, five kilograms or more of cocaine, 50 kilograms or more of marijuana, and less than 100 grams of heroin; District of South Carolina
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (October 30, 2002)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· George Michael Gray – Springfield, OR
Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture, possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine; manufacture of methamphetamine; possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine; possession of firearm in connection with drug trafficking offense; District of Oregon
Sentence: Life imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (July 3, 1995)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Curtis Greer – Rosenberg, TX
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine base (two counts); Southern District of Texas
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $5,000 fine (August 21, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and unpaid balance of the $5,000 fine remitted.
· Jerome Harris, Jr. – Mobile, AL
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; use/carry/possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; Southern District of Alabama
Sentence: 300 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (November 7, 2006)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Vernon Harris – Philadelphia, PA
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute; possession of firearm by convicted felon; Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (October 25, 1996)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Kenneth G. Harvey – Los Angeles, CA
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Western District of Missouri
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $10,000 fine (April 5, 1991)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Andrew Lee Holzendorf – South Bay, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; Northern District of Florida
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (November 14, 1996)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Tommy Howard – Cincinnati, OH
Offense: Use of a firearm during the commission of a drug trafficking offense; Southern District of Ohio
Sentence: 292 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release; $1,000 fine (January 8, 2004)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Kenneth Isaacs – Little Rock, AR
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute hydromorphone; Eastern District of Arkansas
Sentence: 180 months’ imprisonment; three years’ supervised release (May 6, 2004)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Robert Lee Lane – Bradenton, FL
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Middle District of Florida
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (May 3, 1990)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Angela LaPlatney – Casper, WY
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute methamphetamine; concealing a person from arrest; District of Wyoming
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $1,000 fine (February 17, 2005)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Anthony Lee Lewis – Tampa, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine; distribution of crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine; convicted felon in possession of a firearm; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; Middle District of Florida
Sentence: Life imprisonment (September 16, 1994)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on March 30, 2017.
· Herbert Lewis, Jr. – Okmulgee, OK
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine (two counts); Eastern District of Oklahoma
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $2,500 fine (March 7, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and unpaid balance of the $2,500 fine remitted.
· Byron Lamont McDade – Bowie, MD
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, aiding and abetting; District of Columbia
Sentence: 324 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (May 29, 2002)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· John E. Milton, III – Baton Rouge, LA
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and cocaine base; Middle District of Louisiana
Sentence: 600 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release; $250,000 fine (April 3, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and unpaid balance of the $250,000 fine remitted.
· Gregory Morgan – Jonesboro, GA
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; Northern District of Georgia
Sentence: 225 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (March 11, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Michael W. Morris – Fort Worth , TX
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute “crack” cocaine base; Southern District of Indiana
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (December 24, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and supervised release term commuted to five years of supervised release.
· Larry Nokes – Quincy, IL
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; possession of a controlled substance; Central District of Illinois
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (December 10, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Wayne Parker – Miami, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; Northern District of Florida
Sentence: 420 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $1,500 fine (November 23, 1999); amended to 360 months’ imprisonment; six years’ supervised release; $1,500 fine (March 8, 2001)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Exdonovan Peak – Brooklyn, NY
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; Southern District of Mississippi
Sentence: 365 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release; $12,000 fine (February 13, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and unpaid balance of the $12,000 fine remitted.
· Carol Denise Richardson – Texas City, TX
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base (incorrectly described in the judgment as cocaine); possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base; Southern District of Texas
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (June 16, 2006)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Jose Ramon Rivera – Chicago, IL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin; distribution of heroin (two counts); Northern District of Illinois
Sentence: 360 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (November 10, 1993)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Ismael Rosa – Chicago, IL
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute multiple kilograms of cocaine (four counts); use of communication facility in commission of drug offense (two counts); Northern District of Illinois
Sentence: Life imprisonment (August 8, 1995)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on March 30, 2017.
· Melissa Ross – Daytona Beach, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride and 50 grams or more of cocaine base; Middle District of Florida
Sentence: 292 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $4,000 fine (June 11, 2002); amended to 240 months’ imprisonment (January 17, 2009)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016, and unpaid balance of the $4,000 fine remitted.
· Jeffrey Sapp – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine; Southern District of Florida
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (January 24, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Robin Evette Shoulders – Louisville, KY
Offense: Possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine; Western District of Kentucky
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (December 16, 2002)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on September 26, 2016.
· Eric Smith – Memphis, TN
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; unlawfully maintaining a residence for the purpose of distributing and using cocaine base; Western District of Tennessee
Sentence: 360 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (April 24, 1995)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Ernest Spiller – East St. Louis, IL
Offense: Distribution of crack cocaine (two counts); maintaining a crack house; possession of a firearm in further of a drug trafficking crime; felon in possession of a firearm; Southern District of Illinois
Sentence: 352 months’ imprisonment; three years’ supervised release; $1,000 fine (August 3, 2000)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Tairone Traniel Stanford – Buna, TX
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance – cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II controlled substance – cocaine base; Eastern District of Texas
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (April 22, 1999)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Alohondra Rey Staton – Greenville, NC
Offense: Possession with the intent to distribute cocaine base (crack); Eastern District of North Carolina
Sentence: 360 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (August 21, 2001)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Corey R. Thomas – St. Louis, MO
Offense: Possession with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base (“crack”); Eastern District of Missouri
Sentence: Life imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (June 9, 2004)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Damion L. Tripp – Poplar Bluff, MO
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute a substance containing 50 grams or more of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana; Eastern District of Missouri
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (April 28, 2008)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Dwayne Twane Walker – Charlottesville, VA
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base; Western District of Virginia
Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release; $500 fine (May 27, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Jesse Webster – Chicago, IL
Offense: Conspiracy; attempting to possess with intent to distribute cocaine (incorrectly listed on the judgment as conspiracy); filing false income tax return (two counts); Northern District of Illinois
Sentence: Life imprisonment; five years’ supervised release; $25,000 fine (March 21, 1996)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on September 26, 2016, and balance of the $25,000 fine remitted.
· Shermaine Donnell Whitley – Charleston, SC
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and cocaine base (“crack”); District of South Carolina
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (May 1, 2003)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Sammy Lee Woods – Aurora, CO
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of cocaine base, aiding and abetting; use of a communications facility to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, aiding and abetting; possession with intent to distribute 1.062 grams of cocaine base, aiding and abetting; District of Colorado
Sentence: 240 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (April 21, 2004)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Christopher Michael Wright – Elmira, OR
Offense: Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; District of Oregon
Sentence: 216 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release; $5,000 restitution (May 31, 2006)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
· Michael A. Yandal – Murray, KY
Offense: Possession with the intent to distribute approximately 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine base; possession with the intent to distribute marijuana; possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; Western District of Kentucky
Sentence: 195 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release (April 24, 2007); amended to 180 months’ imprisonment (December 11, 2007)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on July 28, 2016.
FPM
Obama’s Latest Amnesty for Drug Dealers
Freeing drug dealers, terrorizing communities.
May 12, 2016
Daniel Greenfield
Charlie Brown used to run a fortified crack house in South Providence. Surveillance cameras kept an eye out for cops and a steel-reinforced door was built to keep them out. Brown had been dealing drugs for at least nine years. He had two previous drug convictions dating back to his twenties. His drug money was used to buy real estate, renovating and renting out the houses that he wasn’t using to sell drugs.
Despite all that, Brown’s lawyers tried to suggest that he lacked the “mental capacity” to understand his criminal case and suffered from lead poisoning. Mental capacity, often blamed on lead poisoning, is to modern criminal defense attorneys what phony claims of insanity used to be decades earlier.
But it didn’t work. Brown stayed in jail. Until Obama commuted his sentence.
Providence police Lt. Thomas Verdi had said, “These three defendants are notorious in Providence. This sends a message — that these individuals who are dealing drugs and involved in violent crimes will be apprehended and face serious, serious prison sentences — not locally, but in the federal system.”
He would have had better luck locally because Brown will be out next year. And he’ll be far from alone.
Artrez Nyroby Seymour was part of The Organization, a group of crack dealers in Chicago Heights that modeled their operation after the movie New Jack City. The Organization operated outside an elementary school whose children were never allowed out to play out of fear of its drug dealers.
Leonard Mason was part of a drug trafficking network across multiple states which “used violence and intimidation to advance its cocaine business”. It sold drugs outside a school playground, three shootings were linked to the network and local residents described hearing gunshots and being afraid to take their children out to play.
“It makes a difference that they are off the street,” Rose Jones, a local resident, commented.
But not for long. That was in 2008. Operation Bankshot was a 2 year investigation. Mason was recorded on the phone discussing drug deals and setting a price of $22,000 for a kilogram of cocaine. Mason was caught with three kilograms of cocaine. In 2011, he was finally sentenced to 20 years in prison.
But Obama has decided to let him go in 2016.
Gerardo Rivera was busted smuggling $1.7 million worth of meth from Mexico by the border patrol. Despite being so obsessed with meth that he made it impossible to buy cough syrup without an ID, Obama decided to cut Rivera’s sentence in half. While law-abiding citizens can’t treat their cold without documentation, the man behind it all treats smuggling millions in meth like a minor offense.
Other beneficiaries of Obama’s pro-crime commutation policies include Steven Bernard Boyd, an associate of one of Augusta’s major drug suppliers, Timothy “Tim Tim” Augustus, busted in the breakup of a Hampton cocaine ring, Donald Brooks, who was arrested when a drug ring operating across Georgia and Alabama was shut down, and Corey Howard, an associate of notorious Indianapolis cocaine kingpin Prentice Greer. George Jones was part of a large cocaine distribution network in Raleigh moving two to three kilograms of crack every month. The organization’s drug dealers were armed. Kenneth W. Kemp was the co-leader of a conspiracy to move 15 kilograms of cocaine a week around Norfolk.
Wade Cutchen had been part of a major drug ring operating for over a decade out of Newport News that had sold millions in heroin and cocaine a year and even lined up customers outside a methadone clinic.
These arrests were part of major busts of local drug trafficking operations in these towns and cities.
While Obama describes the criminals he is freeing as mere “drug offenders”, they were members of dangerous and destructive drug rings.
Vernon Copeland was a major Atlanta drug figure who helped move cocaine and laundered the money through his night clubs. The DEA spent a year and a half investigating the drug ring. When they busted him, they found four guns and six figures worth of cocaine. The drug ring was charged with moving hundreds of kilograms and millions of dollars worth of drugs.
Copeland is a far cry from the image of the small-time drug offender used to champion the pro-crime agenda known euphemistically as “sentencing reform”. But he’s the ugly truth behind all the lies about “innocent youth” who are so deprived that they have “no choice” but to sell drugs.
Roy Geer was part of a plot to smuggle millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States. Prior to that Geer had been indicted for working with a major drug ring moving tons of marijuana into the country from Colombia.
Obama cut his sentence nearly in half.
Even the “small time dealers” whom Obama stepped in to help like Jamal Hanson were moving tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs. But most of them were not small time dealers. They were more likely, like Maurice Matthews, mid-level drug dealers who used small time dealers as distributors.
Obama is a vehement opponent of gun ownership by law-abiding citizens. But he’s generous to drug dealers and couriers who were found with guns in an industry where they are only used for one thing.
Efrem Rahoman Douglas was arrested with thousands of dollars of crack cocaine. Aside from the other drugs in the vehicle, police found a gun. Dwayne Berman Cooper was arrested with a gun in the glove apartment of his rental car. Fatty Watty aka Marion Clarence Cooper had multiple prior drug arrests before he was caught with large amounts of crack cocaine. Police found large amounts of cocaine and guns when they searched the home of Twaine Jones. Kenneth Kemp purchased thirteen firearms.
Obama claims that he cares about the plight of black neighborhoods. Thomas Farmer was turned in by neighborhood locals who were tired of the crack dealing in their neighborhood.
Obama however thinks their neighborhood needs its crack dealer back.
These are only some of the 58 drug dealers and smugglers whose sentences were commuted by Obama.
In defending his pro-criminal policy, Obama wrote that, “It just doesn’t make sense to require a nonviolent drug offender to serve 20 years, or in some cases, life, in prison… An excessive punishment like that doesn’t fit the crime. It’s not serving taxpayers, and it’s not making us safer.”
Does freeing members of major drug rings make us safer? Are armed drug dealers somehow non-violent? And is involvement in major drug operations now a mere non-violent drug offender?
Falling crime rates show beyond a shadow of a doubt that locking up criminals works.
Sentencing reform was sold by claiming that “kids” who had merely once smoked pot were being sentenced to twenty years in jail. The reality behind the propaganda is that the men serving those sentences for drug charges are serious drug dealers and smugglers. And they are the ones being let go.
Among the various drug dealers and smugglers favored by Obama was Abbas Kareem. Kareem was sentenced in 2008, the same year that the cocaine user currently sitting in the White House won his first election. But Kareem also had a long string of arrests in Florida beginning in September 2001.
Kareem had been in and out of prison until finally he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for cocaine distribution. But Obama decided to commute his sentence after only ten years.
On Kareem’s arm was a tattoo reading, “Only God Can Judge Me.” But Obama appears to think that he is a god.
@Paul
I do think there are genetic hooks for different drugs. Some drugs I can take no problem others like the benzo Ativan became a problem. Irregardless I caution people to be aware and limit their time (unless they are terminal) on painkillers as well as benzos.
@TIN
Not all people become addicted – it’s a genetic thing – either one has the “hook” or one doesn’t. For example, I had morphine while in the hospital but never had any subsequent cravings. I’ve also taken oxycodone after various procedures but only while I was in severe pain. I never enjoyed the sensation from opiates – apparently I lack that “hook” so it is not a problem for me.
Autumn – there is still controversy whether it is genetic or not. Personally I think it runs in some families but doesn’t in others. Regardless, I tell my doctors not to renew any pain meds.
Pardon my naïveté, but how does one NOT become an addict? As someone with no experience with drugs, it sounds as though anyone who needs surgery, and then a follow-up regimen of pain medication, is destined to become an addict. Why can’t people just take the prescribed pain medicine until they heal, and then stop, without going on to become an addict? Is that possible? Just wondering. Hopefully I’ll never need pain medicine, but the thought that they inevitably lead to addiction is quite troubling…..
@Nick
I love that guy – so honest and articulate. It’s amazing that he woke up one day and was actually able to kick his habit! Unlike so many others like Philip Seymour Hoffman, etc. I knew several heroin addicts in Germany – watching them lose their teeth by the age of 22 and sit around in a perpetual daze was the best lesson for me never to try it. Most of them are dead now from overdoses and the only one I knew who escaped his habit (interestingly enough also a chef) is now living with HIV from a shared needle.
Anthony Bourdain, a former heroin addict, did a great segment on heroin abuse in MA
Thanks for this Autumn. I’ve read all of Bourdain’s books. He’s brutally honest about his heroin addiction.
Maybe they should get a preserve and let that little psychopathic sadist girl from Utah hunt this guy and people like him?
It’s not just opiates that are a problem. I was prescribed Ativan by my GP as I was having PTSD issues after being threatened by my white trash drug dealing neighbor. It took the edge off so I was able to function and do my academic work, however, I did not research benzos and became dependent on them despite taking a very low dose. I was finally able to kick them, but it took over two months and I suffered greatly with hallucinations, insomnia and panic attacks. My shrink who had been a pathologist before he certified in psychiatry explained that many GPs are ignorant about the long term effects of Ativan and Valium – that such drugs should only be used in hospital settings for a short period. So patient beware. Do your research before filling a prescription.
If there is no regulation by the state on these narcotics regarding any standards or compositional specifications to protect the consumer, then why should he charged with any misuse of the product he sold?
Was there a product liability statue that I missed someplace?
Can gun dealers be held liable because of the misuse of a firearm by one of their customers?
Just curious.
Roscoe P Coltrane – you raise an interesting point. Maybe we should set standards for illegal drugs and charge deals who deviate from those standards with drug adulteration. That would be added to the sale of the drug itself.
The cops could run free labs where they would test drugs for quality and those over and under standard would be arrested.
I worked in a maximum security Federal Prison. There are no 4th Amendment rights in prison. ANYONE, including staff, are subject to strip search @ any time. And, you can get any drug you want in a maximum security prison. Now, look @ a map of the US. How in the name of sweet Jesus do you think you can keep out a supply w/ such a huge demand. We must work on demand.
When I was in Colombia in 1987 that country was run by the cartels. The people were frightened and angry. They were most angry @ the cartels but also @ the US and Europe. Several people said to me, “We don’t only export cocaine. We also export coffee. If the US and Europe stop drinking coffee we” stop producing it.” They understood the most basic tenet of economics. The US govt. does not. Or, the choose not to understand.
The drug cartels are raw, ruthless capitalists. There are many addicts out there that can no longer get manufactured pain meds. So, the cartels have dramatically increased the supply of heroin. It is 70-80% cheaper than oxycontin, AKA “Hillbilly Heroin.” Docs and the drug companies got them hooked, and set them up beautifully for the cartels. Doing a helluva job, Obama.
People aren’t cooking up Oxycodone or Vicodin in their garages. They are not manufacturing Fentanyl or Elephant (or horse or dog or cat) tranquilizer in their mobile homes.
The most common path to heroin these days, especially for poor whites, is that they first get hooked on Oxy, then as their tolerance and need grow, they find they can no longer afford the drug. So they switch to heroin. And off they go.
As I mentioned above, pharmaceutical companies know where there drugs are going. Licensed doctors are feeding this epidemic, both in the lazy over-medicating of their patients and in the writing of illegal prescriptions for a share of the take. These are the real first line pushers. Never mind the street dealers and users. There are billions of dollars being made here and no end in site.
Most countries that have legalized drugs have noticed a drop in overdoses, a drop in crime related to those drugs. But there is no guarantee that it would work here. (even though I think drugs should be decriminalized and treatment centers funded over jails). Americans do everything in excess, not just illegal drugs. We eat too much, drink too much, smoke too much, and take WAY too many drugs. We are some of the sickest, neediest, greediest, overconsuming people on the planet. It is our national disease and we have been subjugating other cultures around the world to feed our insatiable need for, well, everything. Everything from minerals to organic materials. We get natives in other countries to destroy their villages and their way of life to grow coffee for us, another drug we over-consume. It is unlikely that we could even begin to solve our drug problem until we start addressing our problem with poly-gluttony.
The second part is that most Americans love to see people punished, and if they suffer, so much the better. We incarcerate more people than any developed nation in the world. And our prisons are shameful. Overcrowded hellholes, favoring punishment over rehabilitation. Privatized prisons are basically slave labor camps, with guaranteed minimum occupancy rates that keep the surrounding communities in constant search for new “criminals” to feed the system.. Hence our new national school-to-prison pipeline.
So yes, of course, people need to be responsible for their actions. But that group includes not just the actions of the drug addict, but also the actions of the doctors, the actions of the drug manufacturers, the actions of the judges, and legislators, and the rest of us who feed the ever loving need for more more more.
As usual, philly is off by a few years. What he says about opioids was true several years ago. Doctors were complicit in over prescribing pain meds. But, as what always happens when politics gets involved, the pendulum swings drastically the other way. Now, real pain patients are lumped together w/ addicts. It is now very difficult to get an RX for pain meds. True pain patients have become societies new lepers. And, I don’t see a Father Damien anywhere.
As usual, Nick nitpicks a minor point, blows it up out of proportion and then uses it to completely ignore the larger argument.
While it’s true that prescriptions of opioids have declined in the last three years, over-prescribing is still rampant and the drugs are still absolute gateways to heroin, especially in KY, OH and IN.
And that does nothing to negate anything else I said.
Your methods are simplistic and weak.
Over prescribing IS NOT “rampant” any longer. And it is not “minor point” when your entire thesis is old, outdated, and just flat ass wrong. Typical liberal, living in the past. People laugh at you, and it’s not because you have Jim Gaffigan wit. A truly caring INTELLIGENT liberal would now be concerning themselves w/ the fact that chronic pain patients are now having difficulty getting pain meds w/ the DEA making draconian rules. Obama is uncaring and stupid. Maybe that’s your connection w/ him. The pendulum has swung violently the other way, dog man. Try reading something current..w/o moving your lips. Do something useful, make me a sandwich.
Once again, thank you for proving my point. As before, and as usual, you are 5% right and 95% full of everyday ordinary crap. I won’t even try to lump you in with the other alt-reich people on the board because you stand alone in your ignorance.
The problem is, and has been for some time, a shortage of doctors who are actually trained and skilled in pain management. Period. While some of the straight up pill pushers, pill mill operators and unskilled doctors who don’t have a clue about real pain management, have been taken off the field, there are still too many out there who think the daily visits from drug reps constitutes continuing education on the subject.
If all you’ve got in your medical arsenal is a prescription pad, you don’t know jack and you shouldn’t be treating people for anything, especially chronic pain. And for people in chronic pain, if all your doctor has to offer is a new drug, you should be seeking out alternative doctors and alternative treatments. Acupuncture, meditation, talk therapy and several other paths are helping people in chronic pain and should be part of the program EVERY chronic pain sufferer is on.
The guidelines are an improvement, and, as I said before, any doctor who can’t figure out how to work within the guidelines should be looking for a new line of work, or go take some courses on pain management.
As for you, you’re grounded. Go clean up your room. And no Brietbart, RedState or Stormfront for you for a month. you need to think about what you’ve done and how you can be a better person.
I’ve seen what our judicial-law enforcement-prison complex system is all about: money.
Right. Here’s the relevant quote I was looking for from the link above:
“Most people know that painkillers can be addictive, but they don’t know that taking opioids over a long period of time may in fact increase a patient’s sensitivity to pain (hyperalgesia). This happens because long-term use of opiate painkillers causes a decrease in your ability to tolerate pain and an increase in sensitivity to pain. In fact, people taking opioids long term may keep having pain, or may see their pain increase, long after the original cause of pain has healed.”
And an impermeable border will help shut down international drug trafficking. It won’t help drugs that can be concocted on site, like meth. (And, seriously, do users even understand what is in meth? Why not just drink Draino?)
Personanongrata – I have struggled with what to do about the legalization of drugs. My grandmother often remarked that Prohibition gave the mob a lot of its power. She brewed beer during those times. Do people have the freedom to use and sell highly addictive poisons?
However, if we legalized all drugs – heroin, meth, bath salts…whatever. Would there be an inspection process to make sure that these lethal drugs with absolutely zero health benefits were manufactured under GMP? Do you just make it legal to ingest whatever you want? If so, there would have to be no recourse for crimes such as the above. If you can legally ingest bath salts, which drive you into an insane cannibal, then you can take adulterated heroin. You really couldn’t keep campaigning against smoking if you legalized meth, which emaciates people and covers them in sores, with rotten teeth. Plus, these drugs lead to crime, because at some point, the addict cannot hold down a job and pay for even the cheapest of drugs, or they have built up such a tolerance that they need more and more and more. So then there is a societal cost.
I don’t know. There are arguments about personal freedom. But then the entire reason for the FDA and USDA would go out the window. Legally, a drug has to be governed by the FDA to ensure it is safe, and so it has to confer a benefit. Technically, nicotine is a drug, in which case cigarettes would have to be outlawed because they confer no health benefit, only harm. But since there is a long social history of use, it gets a pass. What would be the consequences of giving a pass on everything?
I will have to look into how Portugal is fairing.
Karen I wish we had all of the answers but we do not.
What is readily apparent and has been for some time is that the US government’s drug war is a complete failure on every metric. Drugs are widely available to all persons even after wasting trillions of dollars on interdiction, incarceration and eradication efforts over the five preceding decades.
Selling drugs in an unadulterated form could be accomplished by using pharmacies or dispensaries for the sale of poisons such as heroin as we have seen in done other countries. The program could even be modeled after existing methadone programs already in place in the US.
Humans have been using mind altering substances since the dawn of time and any government or group that thinks it can alter a persons behavior and stop the use of these substances is not operating in reality.
Below is a posting from The Watch (Radley Balko) which exposes the helplessness of the US government’s drug war:
It’s hard to come up with a better argument why the drug war is a futile and destructive waste of time and resources than this headline.
Link to The Watch:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/08/29/way-late-morning-links-court-finds-raid-on-cop-critic-blogger-was-unconstitutional/?utm_term=.1eac501d4087
Link to the headline:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-death-row-drugs-20160824-snap-story.html