Silver Spring Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Gun and Drug Conspiracy Charges
Greenbelt, 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.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Toni M. Crosby of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; and Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).
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.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (“PSN”), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the ATF and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam K. Ake, Joel Crespo and Patrick D. Kibbe, who prosecuted the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psn and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
