Baltimore Man Pleads Guilty For Attempting To Rob Undercover ATF Special Agents
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A second man pleaded guilty in a case involving an assault on two undercover ATF Special Agents Thursday.
Donte Smith, 33, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty Friday to assault of a federal officer and brandishing a firearm in the course of a crime of violence, in connection with the May 26, 2017, assault on two undercover Special Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
According to Smith's plea agreement, on May 26, 2017, during an ATF undercover operation, Smith and his co-defendant, Menard Hazelwood, attempted to rob two ATF undercover Special Agents, who were working with a confidential informant to purchase $2,000 worth of heroin from a known heroin dealer.
The undercover agents and informant had picked up the heroin dealer and driven to a location in West Baltimore to meet the dealer's supplier.
The dealer got out of the car and told them to wait. Smith and Hazelwood immediately walked up to the vehicle.
Smith asked the undercover agents for a light, while Hazelwood used the distraction to point a gun at the agent in the passenger seat of the car.
They then demanded money. The undercover agents told them there was cash in the vehicle, the agents then gave a distress signal to the covert ATF team who was monitoring the operation.
As the covert team arrived on the scene, the agents ordered Smith and Hazelwood to put their hands up.
Smith fled, and the responding ATF Special Agents fired their service weapons, striking Smith. Hazelwood also broke away and ran to a nearby car, but was not able to get into the car.
Special Agents arrested him at the scene.
Agents found a .44-caliber revolver brandished by Smith during the robbery, but did not recover the gun used by Hazelwood. Smith and Hazelwood admitted that they each participated in the robbery but did not know the undercover Special Agents were federal agents at the time of the robbery.
Smith and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreements, Smith will be sentenced to between seven and 15 years in prison.
The sentencing is scheduled for March 29, 2019 at 11 a.m.
Hazelwood previously pleaded guilty to the same charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 29, 2019 at 2 p.m.
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