Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven has sentenced DaQuan Brooks (23, St. Petersburg) to 10 years in federal prison for knowingly possessing cocaine base, also known as “crack cocaine,” with the intent to distribute it, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking activity. Brooks pleaded guilty on February 24, 2017.

According to court documents, on August 8, 2016, Pasco County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Brooks on an outstanding arrest warrant for charges of domestic battery by strangulation. Within plain view inside Brooks’s car, deputies observed a firearm. A further search of the car revealed approximately 45 grams of cocaine base in a plastic bag, along with a razor blade, which is commonly used to carve up chunks of cocaine base for distribution. As a previously convicted felon, Brooks is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael M. Gordon and Michael V. Leeman.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program - a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy. Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow, along with Daryl R. McCrary, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

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