Biden freed convicted fentanyl trafficker early — now feds say he was caught with kilos of fentanyl
Former President Joe Biden gave convicted fentanyl trafficker Walter Lee Muhammad an early ticket out of federal prison as part of his massive December 2024 clemency action.
Federal prosecutors now say Muhammad used his second chance to go right back into the drug business. And we’re not talking about a few baggies.
Muhammad, 46, is back in federal custody after investigators allegedly found approximately 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine in his BMW and later seized another seven kilograms of suspected heroin and two kilograms of suspected fentanyl from his Atlanta apartment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the new case Thursday, but it received fresh national attention Monday after the New York Post highlighted the extraordinary connection to Biden’s clemency spree.
There is one important correction to the Post’s headline: Biden did not technically pardon Muhammad. He commuted his sentence. A pardon forgives an offense; a commutation reduces the punishment while leaving the conviction intact.
In Muhammad’s case, Biden cut short a 10-year federal sentence imposed in February 2020 for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He was one of nearly 1,500 people whose sentences Biden commuted on December 12, 2024.
At the time, the Biden White House celebrated the historic clemency action as an exercise in second chances, saying those receiving commutations had been placed on home confinement during the pandemic and had “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.” Local Atlanta coverage notes that Muhammad was among that group.
Federal authorities now paint a rather different picture of Muhammad’s reintegration. According to prosecutors, DEA agents conducting a narcotics investigation watched Muhammad load several bags of suspected drugs into a BMW in Atlanta on August 5. Agents followed him more than 300 miles to Greensboro, North Carolina. There, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office stopped the BMW. A K-9 allegedly alerted officers to narcotics, and investigators say a search turned up approximately 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine. Muhammad was arrested.
The next day, DEA agents executed a search warrant at his Midtown Atlanta apartment. What did they allegedly find? Two kilograms of suspected fentanyl and seven kilograms of suspected heroin. And there’s more.
WSB Radio reports that agents also searched a southwest Atlanta property and recovered three firearms, including a stolen pistol.
“Despite receiving a second chance, this defendant returned to trafficking fentanyl and putting lives at risk,” DEA Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung said.
Federal prosecutors now say Muhammad used his second chance to go right back into the drug business. And we’re not talking about a few baggies.
Muhammad, 46, is back in federal custody after investigators allegedly found approximately 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine in his BMW and later seized another seven kilograms of suspected heroin and two kilograms of suspected fentanyl from his Atlanta apartment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the new case Thursday, but it received fresh national attention Monday after the New York Post highlighted the extraordinary connection to Biden’s clemency spree.
There is one important correction to the Post’s headline: Biden did not technically pardon Muhammad. He commuted his sentence. A pardon forgives an offense; a commutation reduces the punishment while leaving the conviction intact.
In Muhammad’s case, Biden cut short a 10-year federal sentence imposed in February 2020 for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He was one of nearly 1,500 people whose sentences Biden commuted on December 12, 2024.
At the time, the Biden White House celebrated the historic clemency action as an exercise in second chances, saying those receiving commutations had been placed on home confinement during the pandemic and had “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.” Local Atlanta coverage notes that Muhammad was among that group.
Federal authorities now paint a rather different picture of Muhammad’s reintegration. According to prosecutors, DEA agents conducting a narcotics investigation watched Muhammad load several bags of suspected drugs into a BMW in Atlanta on August 5. Agents followed him more than 300 miles to Greensboro, North Carolina. There, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office stopped the BMW. A K-9 allegedly alerted officers to narcotics, and investigators say a search turned up approximately 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine. Muhammad was arrested.
The next day, DEA agents executed a search warrant at his Midtown Atlanta apartment. What did they allegedly find? Two kilograms of suspected fentanyl and seven kilograms of suspected heroin. And there’s more.
WSB Radio reports that agents also searched a southwest Atlanta property and recovered three firearms, including a stolen pistol.
“Despite receiving a second chance, this defendant returned to trafficking fentanyl and putting lives at risk,” DEA Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung said.
70-79, M
