A Florida man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison without the possibility of early release or parole after owning up to possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute.
Harrison County District Attorney W. Crosby Parker announced that Damarte Carlos Epps, 47, entered a guilty plea as a habitual offender. Epps was set to stand trial this week in the Harrison County Circuit Court when he chose to plead guilty.
According to Assistant District Attorney Katherine Gargiulo, who prosecuted the case alongside Assistant District Attorney George Peterman, the crime occurred on Feb. 14, 2023, on Interstate 10 in Gulfport. A Harrison County deputy stopped Epps for multiple traffic infractions and noted his nervous behavior and inconsistent travel account.
After requesting a K-9 unit, deputies conducted a probable cause search following a positive alert and recovered over two kilograms of cocaine from the rear cargo area of Epps’s rental vehicle. Authorities determined that the defendant had been traveling from Houston, Texas, back to Tampa, Fla.
Epps was prosecuted as a habitual offender after it was discovered that he had multiple prior felony convictions in Florida, including previous drug-related offenses. During sentencing, Schmidt noted Epp’s extensive criminal record, describing it as “voluminous.”
“I don’t think that this latest conviction would be a one-off following your last release from the penitentiary, nor do I think that every time you committed a trafficking crime, you got caught.” Schmidt said in court.
Parker praised law enforcement for their role in the case.
“I’m grateful to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office for their proactive work on this case. Their exceptional work took large quantities of illegal drugs off our Interstate before they could reach our neighborhoods and keeps Harrison County safe. Judge Schmidt’s sentence recognizes the seriousness of these crimes,” he said.
Epps will serve the entire 28-year sentence in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
