Bainbridge 'career offender' gets 14 years in federal prison

ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

A Bainbridge man who was labeled a 'career offender' by the U. S. Attorney will spend the next 14 years in federal prison, after he was sentenced in Albany Federal Court Thursday by Judge W. Louis Sands.

Keith Gaines, 43, of Bainbridge, got 176 months for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, after pleading guilty last December.

Charles E. Peeler, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia said that in 2016, Bainbridge police saw Gaines trying to hide, while wearing camouflage described as a 'Ghillie suit' near some warehouses in Bainbridge. He ran to a wooded area, and dropped a package on the ground as police came up. It turned out to be cocaine, and officers found more cocaine in his wallet.

In jail, he made a phone call and described burying a package near a tree in the Bainbridge area. Police went there and found crack cocaine, which they confiscated.

"Mr. Gaines was designated a career offender based on at least five prior cocaine convictions," said United States Attorney Peeler. "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."

This case was investigated by the Bainbridge Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorney Leah E. McEwen prosecuted the case for the United States.