Federal Grand Jury Indicts Owensboro Felon for Fentanyl Trafficking and Firearm Offenses

Bowling Green, KY – A federal grand jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky returned an indictment on April 10, 2024, charging an Owensboro man with possessing 40 grams or more of a fentanyl mixture with the intent to distribute it, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Stansbury of the FBI Louisville Field Office, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, and Sheriff Brad Youngman of the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.

According to the indictment, on March 19, 2023, in Daviess County, Kentucky, Shai Chance Sheriff, 24, possessed with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a fentanyl mixture, possessed a Smith & Wesson.40-calliber pistol and a Glock .45-calliber semiautomatic pistol in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessed a firearm as a convicted felon. Sheriff was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offense.

On June 28, 2019, in Daviess Circuit Court, Sheriff was convicted of robbery in the second degree.

The defendant was arraigned last week before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The Court ordered the defendant detained pending trial. If convicted, Sheriff faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

There is no parole in the federal system.  

The case is being investigated by the ATF Bowling Green Resident Office and the FBI Owensboro Resident Office with assistance from the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Nicholas Rabold, of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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