A Riverdale, Georgia man was sentenced on July 16 to 41 months in prison for his involvement in a pharmacy burglary and possession of stolen firearms in Biloxi, Mississippi. Brian Garland, age 35, received the sentence for participating with two co-defendants, Glenn McDowell and Octavious Franklin, who traveled from Georgia to Mississippi, where two broke into a pharmacy while the third acted as getaway driver.
According to court documents and information presented during proceedings, the group stole multiple controlled substances and several firearms before returning to Georgia. Law enforcement identified Garland and his co-defendants after they also took an old wallet belonging to the pharmacy owner. On their way back through Alabama, they attempted unsuccessfully to use the owner’s bank cards at a gas station; instead, one of Garland’s debit cards was used before discarding the wallet.
A good Samaritan found the discarded wallet and returned it to its owner. Inside was Garland’s debit card. Surveillance footage from the gas station allowed law enforcement officers to identify all three men by their clothing and presence at both locations. Officers also obtained electronic evidence from cell phones that connected each defendant with the offenses.
McDowell and Franklin were previously sentenced to 169 months imprisonment each. All defendants were ordered by the court to pay over $80,000 in restitution related to losses suffered by victims of these crimes. U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi announced these outcomes alongside Special Agent in Charge John Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The case was investigated by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from both the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Biloxi Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Buckner prosecuted this matter.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi is responsible for prosecuting federal crimes across 45 counties covering about 25,000 square miles in southern Mississippi; it operates offices in Jackson, Gulfport, and Hattiesburg under direction of the Attorney General as chief federal law enforcement officer within its jurisdiction, according to the official website.