Lynchburg Man Sentenced Prison On Multiple Federal Drug Offenses

Wednesday, September 11, 2024, 8:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

LYNCHBURG, VA.- On Monday, September 9, 2024, a Lynchburg, Virginia, man appeared in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and was sentenced by a U.S. District Court Judge to 18 years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine and cocaine while possessing a firearm who had previously convicted of second-degree murder.

Guilty Pleas Entered

     According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Welsh, Taurus McDaniel, 43, of Lynchburg, was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine; Distribution of Methamphetamine; Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine While in Possession of a Firearm; and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.

     McDaniel was previously convicted of second-degree Murder in the Circuit Court of Sussex County, Virginia, in 2007.

     Quentin Randolph, a co-defendant in this case, was previously sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his part in the narcotics distribution conspiracy.

     According to documents filed with the court, between October 2022 and June 2023, McDaniel, Randolph, and others conspired to distribute methamphetamine throughout the greater Lynchburg metropolitan area. Detectives of the Lynchburg Police Department developed several confidential informants and made multiple controlled purchases of methamphetamine from McDaniel and Randolph from McDaniel’s residence located on Bright Star Court in Lynchburg.

     On June 2, 2023, law enforcement agencies executed a court-authorized search warrant at McDaniel’s residence and uncovered 356 grams of cocaine, a loaded Colt .38 caliber revolver, a digital scale, a loaded 9mm handgun with a laser sight, and an extended magazine, and 236 grams of methamphetamine. 

     The investigation and conviction of McDaniel is part of an Organized Crime Drug Task Forces investigation.