United States of America v. Darrell Akeem Sanders

Colombia, South Carolina Criminal Defense Lawyer represented the Defendant a Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Drug and Firearms Charges

Darrell Akeem Sanders was sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, and fentanyl, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.



Evidence presented to the court showed that, on September 12, 2019, a Deputy with Richland County Sheriff's Department made a traffic stop on a car in which Sanders was the front seat passenger. In a search of the car, law enforcement found a loaded Taurus 9mm handgun under the seat where Sanders had been sitting and a pill bottle containing approximately 4 grams of crack cocaine in the center console. Sanders admitted both the crack and the gun were his.



Additional investigation revealed Sanders was a distributor in a drug trafficking conspiracy operating in and around Columbia. Over the course of two years, Sanders helped distribute more than 3 kilograms of crack cocaine as well as quantities of both cocaine and fentanyl.



United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Sanders to 157 months in prison followed by a 4-year term of court-ordered supervision]. There is no parole in the federal system.



This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.



This case was investigated by the Richland County Sheriff's Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Flynn prosecuted the case.

Defendant was found guilty and Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced to 13 years in federal prison followed by a 4-year term of court-ordered supervision