Two men arrested in connection to a February shooting pleaded guilty and received sentences recently for several charges stemming from the incident.
Mekhi Davis pleaded guilty to possession of a regulated firearm as a felon, and received a five-year sentence without parole. The conviction violated his probation in a 2018 case, to which the court gave him an additional 13.5 years, making his total jail sentence 18.5 years.
Sirreginald Benton entered an Alford plea to second-degree assault and received an 18-month sentence. Benton also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a regulated firearm under the age of 30 with delinquency, and felony accessory after the face. Both of the guilty pleas carry five-year suspended sentences. Benton will be required to serve four years of supervised probation upon his release.
On Feb. 12, 2021 an officer from Frederick Police Department saw a vehicle in the area of Key Parkway and Willowdale Drive matching the description of a silver sedan used in a Feb. 9 shooting that left one person injured. Officers located the vehicle parked and occupied in the 100 Block of Willowdale Drive, and plain-clothed officers set up to maintain surveillance. Later, two males, one of whom was Benton, approached the vehicle and left the area. When detectives attempted to stop the vehicle, Benton intentionally drove his vehicle into the undercover vehicle, and tried to flee on foot before being caught. He was found to be in possession of a handgun at the time.
Detectives later obtained an arrest warrant for Mekhi Davis, 21, of Frederick, based on the information obtained during the investigation. On Feb. 23 she located Davis as he arrived for an appointment at the courthouse. He was taken into custody without incident.
This investigation was a coordinated effort between FPD, Frederick County Sheriff's Office, Frederick County State's Attorney's Office and the Western Maryland Information Center under the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network (MCIN). The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services provides grant funding and strategic support to MCIN member sites to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations through inter-agency collaboration and data sharing to make Maryland safer.
The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services funded this project under sub-award number, MCIN-2021-0012. All points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of any Maryland State office or agency.