12-01-05 -- Robinson, Shawn -- Sentencing -- News Release

Penns Grove Man Sentenced to 150 Months in Federal Prison For Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine

CAMDEN – A Penns Grove man was sentenced today to 150 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle also ordered Shawn Robinson, 31, to pay $2500 in fines and to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison sentence.

Robinson pleaded guilty on May 4, 2005, before Judge Simandle, to 10 counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Robinson pleaded guilty to Counts Three through 12 of a Superseding Indictment, each count charging that Robinson knowingly possessed with the intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine on a specific date. At sentencing, the government moved to dismiss Counts One and Two which charge the defendant with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine.

At his plea hearing, Robinson admitted that on 10 occasions from March 5, 2003 through June 12, 2003, he sold quantities of cocaine to an undercover police officer at a car wash in Penns Grove, a truck stop located off interstate 295 in Salem County and a location in Oldmans Township.

In determining an actual sentence, Judge Simandle consulted the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, was not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Investigators with Salem County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction Prosecutor John T. Lenahan, Carneys Point Police Officers, under the direction of Chief Cosmo Mangiocco, and Special Agents of the DEA, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Pasterchick.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacqueline Carle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden and John J. Hoffman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

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Defense Attorney: John Renner, Esq. Marlton