A Bainbridge case from 2016 was recently heard at the United States District Court, where Judge W. Louis Sands sentenced Keith Gaines, 43, to 176 months imprisonment.

Gaines is in imprisonment for the offense of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He plead guilty to the offense on December 18, 2017, after Bainbridge Public Safety agents located a cookie tin containing 38.51 grams of crack cocaine belonging to him.

BPS located the cookie tin in April 2016, and put out an arrest warrant for Gaines. It was not until May 2016, that they received a call about a man wearing a ghillie suit walking near the Bainbridge purchasing department warehouse and found it to be Gaines.

Officers walked towards him, where he reportedly placed something on the ground before ducking behind a nearby rail car and running away on foot. Agents caught Gaines and verified his identity from his wallet, where they found additional cocaine inside.

Once apprehended, Gaines made a phone call from inside the Decatur County Jail to an unknown male. Gaines informed the male that he buried something near the tree where he was last seen. After listening to the recorded phone call, agents returned to the area and found two sandwich bags containing powder and crack cocaine.

Upon further investigation, agents realized the number Gaines had called was the number he had listed as a relative. They then called in the relative, who claimed Gaines had asked him to retrieve the drugs, but he did not do so.

The drugs seized from the site where tested and found to be 64.13 grams of cocaine.

Charles E. Peeler, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said “Mr. Gaines was designated a career offender based on at least five prior cocaine convictions. He has made a career of almost 25 years of peddling this poison on the streets of our communities. We hope that this sentence will not only end that career for Mr. Gaines but deter others who might consider following the same path.”

The case was investigated by BPS, while Assistant United States Attorney Leah E. McEwen prosecuted the case for the United States.