Wednesday, May 5, 2010 | 3:50 p.m.
A federal jury on Tuesday found a 38-year-old Las Vegas man guilty of drug and firearm offenses.
Following a two-day trial, jurors convicted Michael Paul Palumbo of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime. He was also convicted on April 7 of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Palumbo, who is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt on July 9, faces at least 15 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.
In December 2008 Metro Police detectives received information that a manl, later identified as Palumbo, was selling methamphetamine from rental vehicles in Las Vegas. They made arrangements for a female undercover detective to meet Palumbo to purchase 1/16th of an ounce of methamphetamine near a gas station at the corner of Rancho Road and Cheyenne Boulevard.
Prior to the meeting, detectives cobserved Palumbo make what appeared to be several drug sales. After Palumbo failed to follow through with the sale to the undercover detective because he had not previously sold drugs to her, detectives arrested him as he was getting into a truck, after they observed a firearm protruding from his pants pocket.
A records check revealed that Palumbo was a multiple-time felon prohibited from carrying a firearm, and that the truck was rented. Detectives recovered from the truck, ecstasy and Viagra, 30 grams of methamphetamine, $5,689 in U.S. currency, and a digital scale. The methamphetamine was later tested and was determined to be 91 percent pure.
Palumbo has prior felony convictions in Clark County for burglary, drug trafficking, attempted theft, identity theft, and possession of a stolen vehicle.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Drew Smith and Nadia Ahmed.
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