A 23-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his conviction on possession of a large amount of heroin discovered during a routine traffic stop in Ellicott City last September. David Nathaniel Jackson, of the 4400 block of Maple Shade Drive, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance— large amount on May 14 and was sentenced by Howard County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McCrone this morning.
Howard County police stopped Jackson’s vehicle on eastbound Baltimore National Pike at Normandy Woods Drive shortly before midnight on September 7, 2017 after observing it being operated in a manner suggesting that the driver was impaired. Back-up units arrived on the scene, including a K-9 which alerted police to the presence of drugs in the vehicle.
A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of a digital scale with a powder residue from under the front passenger seat, $650 cash from the sunglass compartment, a bag of suspected heroin hidden in the dashboard behind the glove compartment, numerous cell phones and a pair of Maryland license plates. A search of Jackson revealed $480 in his left pants pocket and $6,169 in his right pocket. Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Ritter stated that subsequent testing by the Maryland State Police crime lab revealed that the suspected drug was 98.98 grams of heroin.
Referring to a court-ordered pre-sentence investigation (PSI), Judge McCrone characterized it as “a disturbing PSI, in some ways…worrisome.” He sentenced Jackson to a 10-year prison sentence and recommended incarceration at the Patuxent Institution which is a treatment-oriented, maximum security correctional facility in Jessup.
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