LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Madison Heights man was sentenced recently to over 20 years for his involvement in drug trafficking in 2018.
37-year-old Eric Joseph Gravette was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg to 21 years and 10 months, or 262 months, in federal prison.
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On June 24, 2018, the Lynchburg Police Department said they responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle at a local restaurant.
Police said when they arrived at the scene, the driver, who they later found out was Gravette, tried to escape the police by driving down an embankment and then fleeing on foot.
When police looked in the car they said they found approximately 255 grams of meth, 132 grams of cocaine and 304 grams of marijuana. On the ground outside the driver’s side, they said they found a Smith & Wesson 9mm firearm.
The investigation concluded that Gravette was the driver, the weapon belonged to him and that in just under a year he had been involved in the trafficking of nine kilograms of methamphetamine.
In September 2020, Gravette, a career offender, pleaded guilty to four charges and had recently been released from serving a state sentence for drug offenses before he committed these offenses.
Gravette pleaded guilty to the following four charges:
- One count of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine
- One count of possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime
- One count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon