Federal Defendant Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison After Being Convicted on Drug Charge

Defendant, a Career Offender, had Two Prior Federal Drug Trafficking Convictions

PORTLAND, Ore. – Lawrence Orlando Lee, 36, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for intent to distribute methamphetamine.  At sentencing, the Court found that Lee qualified as a “Career Offender.”  Following his federal prison sentence, Lee will be required to serve eight years of supervised release, which includes a condition prohibiting him from associating with any known gang members.

“The defendant was a drug dealer who helped poison the community for his own personal profit,” stated United States Attorney Amanda Marshall.  “Unfortunately, almost everyone involved in the criminal justice system is well aware of the direct and indirect harms that drug dealing, especially methamphetamine and heroin, has wrought here in Oregon and elsewhere.  Whether it is drug-affected individuals unable to fully function in society; drug affected parents unable to care for their children; individuals who steal and rob to support drug addictions; or drug-fueled violence, it is safe to say that methamphetamine and heroin, both the dealing and abuse of them, are true blights within our community that adversely affects all of us.”

In December 2011, the Metro Gang Task Force (MGTF) received information from multiple sources that the defendant, identified by his street moniker of “G,” was selling methamphetamine and heroin in the greater Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.  On August 12, 2012, as part of their ongoing investigation, MGTF officers arrested the defendant and executed a search warrant on his residence.  During the search of the defendant’s residence officers found:

    330 net grams of methamphetamine (containing 295 grams of actual methamphetamine);

    98 net grams of heroin;

    $1,665 in U.S. Currency;

    A Interdynamic Luger 9mm Model #KG-99 handgun, with a loaded magazine;

    A Fabrinor Victoria Firestorm .45 caliber handgun, with two loaded magazines; and,

    A Glock 27, .40 caliber handgun, with two loaded magazines.

The defendant told the police he had been selling drugs due to his inability to get a legitimate job.  When he was asked about the guns, the defendant acknowledged that drug dealing was dangerous and that one of the reasons he had the guns was for his protection.

The defendant was indicted in federal court on August 14, 2012, and had prior felony drug trafficking convictions in 1998 and 2008.  He pled guilty in this case on February 19, 2014.

This case was investigated by the Metro Gang Task Force, which is made up of special agents and officers from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Portland Police Bureau; the Beaverton Police Department; and, the Tigard Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Scott Kerin, the Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Drug Unit.