Baltimore Man Exiled to 126 Months in Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin

Baltimore, Maryland – On August 24, 2017, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Tavon Holmes, age 29, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 10 years and 6 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

According to his plea agreement on January 4, 2016, Baltimore City Police Department officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, when Holmes ran from the car and into an adjacent alley. Holmes appeared to remove an item from his waistband area and then jumped onto the top of an unhinged basement door. When officers apprehended Holmes, they found, within close proximity, a black semi-automatic Cobra .380 caliber pistol with one round of .380 caliber ammunition in the chamber and a magazine with an additional five rounds of .380 caliber ammunition.

Prior to January 4, 2016, Holmes had been convicted in a court of the state of Maryland of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year, and his civil rights had not been restored.

Following his arrest, the government obtained a search warrant for Holmes’ cell phone. Within that cell phone were multiple text messages in or about December 2015 where Holmes and at least one other individual conspired to distribute heroin.

On February 8, 2016, and still while incarcerated on his firearms related charges, Defendant Holmes called an individual and asked that individual to move the location of a “jimmy mac.” The government would have proved that a “jimmy mac” is often a code word for a firearm or narcotics.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the ATF, the Baltimore City Police Department and the DEA for their work in the investigation. Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Phil Selden, Aaron Zelinsky, David Metcalf and Mike Hanlon, who prosecuted the case.