Detroit Man Gets 17 Years In Prison For Selling Drugs To Undercover Agent

[Fat Freddy]

Hot off the press. http://www.freep.com/article/20120607/NEWS01/120607072/1001/rss01

 

 

A Detroit man with a lengthy criminal record is going to prison for more than 17 years for selling drugs to an undercover agent out of a housing project in Detroit, the U.S. Attorney's office announced today.

Cromwell Bost, 36 of Detroit, who now has nine felony convictions for various drug, weapons and assault crimes, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen on Tuesday to 210 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him in a December trial.

Trial testimony showed that Bost sold crack cocaine and heroin to an undercover ATF Agent several times from 2010-2011 while living in the Smith Homes Housing Projects in Detroit. In one recorded phone call with an undercover agent, authorities said, Bost not only touted the benefits of selling heroin over selling crack because its greater profitability, but he also offered to teach the undercover agent how to cut and distribute heroin.

Bost was arrested by federal agents following a failed drug deal in a parking lot, where agents boxed in his car, triggering a chase. Bost accelerated in reverse, nearly striking some agents and drawing gunfire from the agents as a result. Bost’s car ended up getting stuck in a snow bank, and he fled the scene on foot, but agents caught him a short distance away.

Inside his car, agents found a loaded pistol and packages containing crack cocaine and heroin.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who has repeatedly said that reducing violent crime in Detroit is her top priority, said: “We are using federal charges to remove the most serious offenders from our streets. Defendants like this one, with eight prior felony convictions, have no business possessing a gun."