
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200430
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WEAPONS CRACKDOWN COULD MEAN 65 YEARS

A 20-year-old Roanoke man has become the first person to be arrested locally under Project Triggerlock, a nationwide program initiated by the U.S. attorney general last week to crack down on people who use firearms to commit crimes.

Mark Eugene Smith was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury in Roanoke on a charge of possessing a 9mm semiautomatic gun in relation to a drug trafficking offense. Smith also was charged with possession of crack cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Wolthuis said Smith was arrested in the Lansdowne area of Northwest Roanoke twice last week. Police seized more than 5 grams of crack and a semiautomatic gun.

At Smith's initial appearance hearing this week, a police videotape was shown of him selling crack cocaine several years ago when he was a juvenile.

If convicted on both charges, Smith faces a maximum 65 years in prison without possibility of parole, a maximum $3.25 million fine, or both.

He was being held without bond in the Roanoke City Jail.

The investigation was conducted by the Roanoke police vice bureau; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

by CNB