(WWJ) — A Kalamazoo man will spend nearly three decades behind bars after pleading guilty to a number of drug charges.
Michael Warren Smith, Jr., was sentenced this week to 327 months — 27.5 years — in prison for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of meth, 400 grams or more of fentanyl and cocaine.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge announced the sentence Wednesday. The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges last October.
On Oct. 11, 2023 authorities searched Smith’s house on Elmwood Street and apartment on West Main Street — both in Kalamazoo — and found a massive amount of drugs, which Smith admitted to intending to sell, according to Birge’s office.
During a search of the home on Elmwood, Smith was home at the time and investigators found more than 185 grams of fentanyl in his pants. In the home’s bedroom, they found 388.5 grams of “99 percent pure methamphetamine” and other evidence of drug trafficking, according to the attorney’s office.
When searching the apartment that same day, investigators found about 5 lbs. of 99 percent pure meth, more than 500 grams of fentanyl, more than 470 grams of cocaine and five loaded guns.
“We are pleased with this sentence,” said Mike Ferguson, Captain of the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team. “Mr. Smith possessed a large amount of drugs and guns. Drugs and guns that would’ve hit the streets of Kalamazoo if not for the hard work of KVET and our federal partners.”
James Deir, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Detroit Division, said Smith “sold poison in our community while armed with five illegal firearms.”
“This sentence should serve as a clear warning to every illegally armed drug dealer operating in our community: If you pack an illegal firearm in furtherance of peddling your poison, you need to pack your bags for prison,” Deir said, per a press release.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team (KVET), and Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) investigated this case.