Montgomery County Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Gun And Drug Conspiracy Charges

Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland: U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman sentenced Darryl Colton Frazer, age 34, of Silver Spring, Maryland, yesterday to seven years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for gun and drug conspiracy charges and for violation of supervised release.  Frazer was convicted of those charges on November 3, 2022, after a three-day trial.

According to the evidence presented at trial, on July 25, 2019, MCPD officers approached Frazer and co-defendant Shamire Moore after noting that Moore appeared to match the description of an individual involved a recent shooting.  When Frazer and Moore saw the officers, they ran into a nearby residential area.  Officers followed them and found Frazer in a nearby apartment building’s open stairwell attempting to enter an apartment.

Witnesses testified that Frazer was ordered to stop and to drop a black bag that he was carrying.  Instead, Frazer threw the black bag from the stairwell into an adjacent courtyard.  The black bag was immediately recovered by police, and Frazer was arrested.  The black bag contained: a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol; 103 grams of marijuana packaged into four separate plastic bags; a digital scale, and latex gloves.

At the time of his arrest, Frazer was on supervised release for a previous federal conviction for unlawful weapons possession and had only finished his sentence for that offense the month before.  Frazer knew that as a result of his previous conviction, he was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

Shamire Moore pleaded guilty just before trial.  According to Moore’s plea agreement, officers found Moore lying on the ground in a nearby wooded area.  They ordered Moore to stand up and surrender, but instead, Moore scaled a fence and jumped onto an adjacent government property.  Moore was eventually caught and arrested after a struggle.  The black bag that Moore was carrying contained a loaded .38 caliber revolver, 106 grams of marijuana packaged into four separate plastic bags inside a larger Ziploc bag, and a digital scale, among other items.  During a search of Moore’s clothing and effects, law enforcement also recovered $579 in cash, which represented proceeds of Moore’s drug trafficking offense.  Moore admitted that he possessed the marijuana with intent to distribute it and that the firearm was in furtherance of drug trafficking since it was intended, at least in part, to defend his drug inventory and drug proceeds.

Shamire Moore, age 31, of Bowie, Maryland, was sentenced on March 7, 2023, to five years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.