HoCo Man Given 13 Years In Prison After Drug, Gun Conviction

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — A judge has sentenced 31-year-old Tiba Sakuri Conley of Ellicott City to 157 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release after a federal jury convicted Conley for federal drug distribution and firearms charges. The four-day trial concluded in September 2020 but Conley's sentencing was handed down this week.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, on April 21, 2016, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Conley’s residence in Ellicott City. When law enforcement entered his residence, Conley was in the kitchen with bags of cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine, powder cocaine, digital scales with white residue, baking powder, a pyrex measuring cup with white residue and a loaded .45 caliber pistol on the kitchen counters on either side of him.

Officers recovered approximately 70 grams of crack cocaine and approximately 72 grams of powder cocaine, which Conley possessed with the intent to distribute, as well as four digital scales and $9,495 in United States currency.

Conley also had in his possession a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, a 5.56x45 millimeter semi-automatic rifle and a 7.62x39 millimeter semi-automatic rifle There were almost 200 rounds of ammunition recovered from the residence, most of it loaded into large capacity magazines for the rifles. Evidence presented at trial showed that Conley was the major contributor of DNA found on three of the firearms recovered from his residence. In a recording played at trial, Conley acknowledged that he was “cooking” when law enforcement entered his residence and that, “They got me.”

Evidence also showed that Conley knew he was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition as a result of a previous felony conviction. At the time of the search, Conley was on probation for two other crimes—a conviction for armed robbery in Washington, D.C., and a conviction for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in Prince George’s County.