Darius Andre “Arnie” Holmes, 41, of Savannah, Georgia, was convicted yesterday by a federal jury after a two-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore, Jr. for distributing heroin and possessing firearms as a felon on August 18, 2015, Department of Justice spokeswoman Katherine Guradino said.
According to the evidence presented during at trial, Holmes sold heroin to a confidential police informant on multiple occasions in August 2015. After Holmes expressed to the informant a desire to buy firearms, local law enforcement officers contacted the ATF and arranged for an undercover officer to allow Holmes to exchange drugs for semiautomatic weapons. Immediately after the trade, Holmes was arrested.
Holmes’s criminal history in the Savannah area stretches back nearly 25 years. His prior felonies include seven separate sales of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, robbery by intimidation, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a felony, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, use of a communication facility to facilitate sales of controlled substances, possession of tools with intent to commit sales of controlled substances and obstruction.
If deemed to be an armed career criminal, Holmes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and 5 years of supervised release on the firearms count.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000,000 and three years of supervised release on each of the heroin distribution counts. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) and the ATF. The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team assisted with Holmes’ arrest, and the GBI and Chatham County Sheriff’s Office provided additional support. The case was prosecuted as part of Project Ceasefire, a joint federal, state and local firearms initiative involving the U.S. Attorney’s Office, ATF and various local police departments.