Defendant Earlier Found Guilty by Jury of Charges in Related Case
WASHINGTON - Azeik Keys, 39, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a federal narcotics offense stemming from a law enforcement search that uncovered drugs in a safe kept in his residence, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Michael Hughes, U.S. Marshal for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Keys pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Keys faces a likely range of 46 to 57 months in prison. The plea agreement calls for him to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $1,370. The Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan scheduled sentencing for March 1, 2017.
The federal case is related to another matter in which Keys was found guilty of failing to register as a sex offender and felony threats, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Keys was sentenced in September 2016 to a six-year prison term on those charges.
Keys was convicted in 2004 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of first-degree sex abuse, sentenced to a six-year prison term, and ordered to register as a sex offender. He was required to register quarterly for the rest of his life. In 2013, he was convicted in the District of Columbia of failing to register as a sex offender. He registered the following year, using his parents’ address in Northeast Washington. Despite moving from that residence, he continued to register that address between November 2014 and April 2015 as his own.
The U.S. Marshals Service began an investigation in January 2015, and Keys’s true residence was ultimately located in an apartment building in Southeast Washington. He was apprehended on April 17, 2015, in a bedroom of that residence. Inside the bedroom, Deputy U.S. Marshals observed in plain view a small amount of marijuana and packaging materials. They subsequently obtained a warrant to search the bedroom and a safe located on the dresser. They found a loaded handgun, cocaine, and approximately $1,370 inside the safe, and an additional loaded handgun inside of the bedroom.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Marshal Hughes commended the work of those who investigated the case from the U.S. Marshals Service, particularly Deputy Marshals William Straw, Justin Bankert, and Jesse Miller. They expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Catherine O’Neal and Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamila Hodge, who is prosecuting the federal case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
