A Little Rock man who served two years in federal prison after being convicted of drug trafficking charges in California was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to an additional six months after he was found to have violated the terms of his supervised release by making at least 19 trips out of state without authorization over a one-year period.
He was ordered to forfeit just over $50,000 seized by authorities on one of those trips, which started Aug. 1, 2019.
Shumecio Marquez Ford was ordered by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright to report to the Bureau of Prisons or the U.S. Marshals service by noon April 19 to begin serving his six-month sentence, after which she sentenced him to an additional six months of supervised release.
Ford was convicted in California after pleading guilty in 2014 to buying 7 ounces of methamphetamine and 2 pounds of marijuana from co-defendant David Mendoza of Inglewood, Calif. Ford and Mendoza were named along with 20 other people in a 67-page, 17-count indictment handed up by a California grand jury in 2012.
Mendoza pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in 2017 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the drug ring.
The U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock alleged that Ford, from Aug. 1, 2019, to July 13, had traveled numerous times without authorization to California, Ohio, and Texas out of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock. During that period, prosecutors said, Ford made nine trips to California, two trips to Texas and one trip to Ohio, all without permission as required by the terms of his supervised release.
In passing the sentence, Wright said she found Ford's offenses to be "more than just the typical violation of leaving the district," noting that the number of violations was a concern.
"He left numerous times and the last time as he was about to leave he was caught with this money," she said. "That's another element that makes this a more serious violation than the typical one."
Wright allowed the delay in reporting to prison after Ford submitted documentation of a heart ailment for which he had sought treatment.
"I was released from the hospital this morning," Ford told Wright. "I have a heart condition where my heart is beating at 190 beats per minute. I got an appointment with a heart physician and the closest appointment I can get is April."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron McCree offered no objections to allowing Ford to self-report to prison on April 19.
Ford's attorney, Lawrence Walker of Little Rock, asked Wright to consider home confinement as an alternative to incarceration, saying that Ford's heart condition places him at greater risk of complications if he contracts the coronavirus.
"What I want you to do," Wright told Ford, "is to keep that appointment and I won't make you report until after your appointment."
Further, Wright suggested that Ford get all of his medical records to take to wherever he is assigned by the Bureau of Prisons and, as a further precaution, arrange to be vaccinated for covid-19 before reporting.
"I've already recommended that the Bureau of Prisons pay attention to your heart condition, which could be serious," Wright said. "It might be serious and I don't want to fool around with it."
In a separate but related civil matter, Wright ordered that the $50,040 in cash seized at the Little Rock airport from Ford by Transportation Security Administration officials on July 13 as he attempted to board a flight to California be forfeited and turned over to the U.S. government.
On Dec. 3, the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock filed a civil forfeiture claim for the money as seized drug assets and on Feb. 10 filed a motion for default judgment requesting that the money be turned over to the federal government on the grounds that no one filed a challenge to the claim within the required time limit.
Wright on Tuesday entered a default judgment and decree of forfeiture in favor of the government.