An Atlanta man whose federal fentanyl sentence was commuted by former President Joe Biden is back in custody, accused by prosecutors of returning to the drug trade and again handling dangerous narcotics.
Walter Lee Muhammad, 46, made an appearance Thursday in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia, where he faces charges of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, federal authorities said.
The new case comes less than two years after Biden shortened Muhammad’s 10-year prison term tied to a February 2020 federal conviction for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, according to prosecutors.
“Despite receiving a second chance, this defendant returned to trafficking fentanyl and putting lives at risk,” Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said in a press release.
Muhammad was among 1,498 federal inmates whose sentences were commuted by Biden on December 12, 2024, prosecutors said.
Federal officials said the latest investigation began after DEA agents allegedly saw Muhammad loading several bags believed to contain drugs into his BMW in Atlanta on Aug. 5. Authorities say he then drove more than 330 miles to Greensboro, North Carolina.
Once in North Carolina, a traffic stop involving a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit led deputies to 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine inside Muhammad’s vehicle, prompting his arrest, prosecutors said.
The following day, DEA agents searched Muhammad’s Atlanta apartment and reported finding additional drugs, including seven kilograms of suspected heroin and two kilograms of suspected fentanyl.
A federal complaint was filed against the drug peddler the next day, charging him with the intent to distribute controlled substances, and he was hauled in front of a federal magistrate judge in North Carolina on August 13, according to prosecutors.
Muhammad is expected to appear in the Northern District of Georgia at a later date, prosecutors said, and he is currently being held by the US Marshals Service.
Beside the two most recent cases made against him, Muhammad was convicted of two drug trafficking charges on two other occasions, prosecutors said.
He was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in August 1999 and conspiracy to distribute marijuana in November 2010, feds said.
It was unclear who Muhammad’s legal representative is.
