Armed Drug Dealer Found Guilty

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that a federal jury yesterday found Roland Martin (28, Jacksonville) guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Martin faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 28, 2011.

Martin was indicted on January 14, 2010.

According to testimony presented at trial, Martin acted as an armed guard for Anthony Terry during the distribution of several kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of pounds of marihuana in Jacksonville from January to September during 2009. Witnesses testified that Martin always carried a Glock firearm. Terry was also indicted in the case and previously pled guilty on October 1, 2010. Terry also faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

Martin and Terry were arrested when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant on September 2, 2009. Narcotics officers located cocaine and marihuana during their search along with three firearms. The firearms seized included a Glock 9mm and two assault rifles.

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Gun Crime Unit and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Talbot.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s "Project Safe Neighborhoods" program – a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy led by ATF. United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill, along with Virginia O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Tampa Field Division, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.