(The Center Square) – A Portland man who had previously had a prison sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama is going back to prison.
The man received an extra 25-year prison sentence this week for various drug and gun crimes.
Dontae Lamont Hunt, 42, received a 300-month federal prison sentence and five years of supervised release for “dealing counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl analog, money laundering, and unlawfully possessing firearms, all while on supervised release from his last federal conviction,” according to a press release from the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.
Hunt must also pay $60,000 to satisfy a forfeiture money judgment.
The sentence comes after he had a 20-year prison sentence cut short. He received that sentence in 2005 for possessing with intent to distribute crack cocaine and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. However, he was released from prison in October 2016 to a halfway house after Obama commuted his sentence.
Shortly after receiving the commutation from Obama, Hunt started dealing counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with carfentanil, “a potent controlled substance sometimes used as an elephant tranquilizer,” according to the release.
Someone shot Hunt multiple times outside his Eugene, Oregon, apartment in December 2017. When Hunt was hospitalized, his girlfriend retrieved a satchel from the crime scene and put it in a vehicle used to attempt to drop the bag off to Hunt in the hospital. However, law enforcement intercepted the vehicle and found evidence of drug trafficking, plus two loaded firearms that had Hunt’s DNA on them.
Pills that Hunt sold were connected to a fatal drug overdose in June 2018, the release said.
Three months later, investigators searched three properties connected to Hunt, including his Portland residence.
Hunt refused to comply with law enforcement before being taken into custody. Law enforcement found pills similar to those they thought Hunt was dealing near an upstairs toilet. They also found pills hidden in various parts of the house and a gun box with the label for the firearms that were in the bloodstained satchel in Eugene.
“Lab reports later confirmed the pills seized contained fentanyl analog,” the release said. “Cellphones seized from Hunt’s residence contained additional evidence of his drug trafficking activities.”
A federal jury found Hunt guilty of multiple gun, drug, and money laundering charges in October 2022.
The Portland Police Bureau, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and FBI investigated this case with help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Eugene Police Department. Peter Sax, Gary Sussman, and Suzanne Miles, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon, prosecuted it, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Jarrett handled the forfeiture litigation.
“This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts,” the release explained. “PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.”
