United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DEC 3 --Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Kenneth Cortez Minor, age 46, of Washington, D.C. today to 14 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

        According to his guilty plea, from 2004 to January 1, 2006, Minor was part of a drug trafficking conspiracy which operated in Montgomery County, Maryland.  Minor was responsible for the distribution of between 3.5 and 5 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride.

        When Metropolitan Police officers  entered Minor’s residence on February 2, 2006 and ascended the stairs to approach Minor’s bedroom, Minor fired two shots from a Highpoint Luger 9mm handgun toward the closed door of his bedroom, which lodged in a door frame and stairway wall.  Officers did not return fire.  Minor barricaded himself inside the bedroom for about 1 ½ hours before surrendering.  A search of the residence revealed 88.9 grams of PCP which Minor intended to distribute, the handgun used by Minor, a .40 caliber handgun and drug paraphernalia.

        Jerrod Clanton, age 36, of Washington, D.C.; Thomas Chatmon, age 43, of Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Brandon O’Neil Hall, age 24, of  Severn, Maryland also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and were sentenced to 151 months, 10 years and 135 months in prison, respectively. 

        United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, Montgomery County Department of Police and the Metropolitan Police Department for their investigative work, and commended Assistant United States Attorney Barbara S. Skalla, who prosecuted the case.