Tyrone Bolden sentenced to 30 years as a career offender on drug and firearm charges

Tyrone Bolden, 30, who has 13 prior convictions, was sentenced to 30 years as a career offender on drug and firearm charges by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Alaimo.Bolden must serve the entire sentence and, upon release from prison, will be supervised for eight years by probation officers."He's a longtime drug dealer, gun-toter and thug. He's earned the status of career offender, and I recommend a life sentence because he's certainly earned it," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrin McCullough, arguing for the maximum penalty allowed in the case.During the sentencing, Bolden maintained his innocence and said he needed treatment for a cocaine addiction.A federal jury in Brunswick convicted Bolden on Feb. 5 of his most recent crimes, single counts of possession with intent to distribute five grams or more of crack cocaine and possession of a firearm by a felon.Bolden had a loaded .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol to protect his hidden stash of crack on Dec. 12, 2006, when investigators with the Glynn-Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team searched his bedroom at his family's Reynolds Street home, according to testimony and evidence during his trial.Investigators discovered about a half-ounce of crack with an estimated street value of $1,200 to $1,400, along with some Xanax tablets in a hidden compartment behind the headboard of Bolden's bed, Capt. Terry Wright, the commander of the enforcement team, told the Times-Union after the sentencing.
The gun was found beneath the mattress of the bed, McCullough said during the sentencing.Wright said Bolden fled before the search but the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him later in Orlando. An investigation by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents determined Bolden had gotten the pistol from another individual, he said.Before being sentenced, Bolden protested his conviction to Alaimo."I'm wrongly accused. ... I'm not guilty and I'm appealing because it's not right," complained Bolden, who also said he needed treatment for his cocaine addition, not prison.
His attorney, John Gilmore, argued for leniency, telling the judge that Bolden's many children needed him and that his past convictions involved "very small amounts" of drugs.
"He keeps going back to dealing drugs to support his own [drug addiction] needs. He has a large number of children that depend on him, and because he was dealing crack, there is a large racial disparity in sentencing against him," Gilmore said.
In response, McCullough told the judge that Bolden at 30 already has "13 convictions, nine illegitimate children and is a danger to the public."
Three of Bolden's past convictions were for felony drug offenses, court records show.
The judge ordered Bolden, who has been jailed since his arrest, immediately taken to prison to begin serving his sentence.