A Texas man whose life sentence on drug charges was commuted by former President Obama is back behind bars after cops caught him with more than two pounds of cocaine following a high-speed chase, according to a report.
Robert M. Gill, 68, had been imprisoned in 1990 for for cocaine and heroin distribution before Obama set him free along with other non-violent federal inmates in 2015, the San Antonio Express News reported.
During his eight years in office, Obama commuted 1,715 prison sentences, more than any other president.
Last Thursday, according to federal court papers, Gill met with his probation officers and then went to the parking lot of a food market to buy more than 2 pounds of cocaine.
Gill met a person who gave him a black backpack that he placed in his vehicle, and a sheriff’s deputy in an unmarked car tried to stop him, the affidavit said.
But Gill took off and after a high-speed chase collided with another vehicle where deputies were able to disable his car.
Officers found the cocaine in the backpack and put him under arrest, the affidavit said.
Gill “related that he was going to sell the cocaine to make money and would be paying a female $26,000 for the cocaine,” the affidavit said.
“I’m so disappointed to hear that he got arrested again,” Ronald Schmidt, a lawyer who helped Gill appeal his life sentence in the courts, told the San Antonio newspaper.
In signing his release, Obama said he did so “because you have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. … Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.”
Gill’s prison warden also stood up for him, saying: “Robert has reformed and rehabilitated himself and poses no threat to the outside world.”
Gill has been charged with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and was held without bail.
He faces a return to prison for up to 40 years, if convicted.
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