Detroit sex offender pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking in Texarkana court

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A Detroit, Mich., sex offender caught with 10 kilograms of cocaine while driving on Interstate 30 in Titus County in February entered a guilty plea Thursday before a federal judge in Texarkana.

Rhasheem Jamal Gordon, 40, was stopped by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper for traveling over the speed limit Feb. 27, according to documents filed in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas. Ten packages of cocaine wrapped in cellophane were found in a false comparment constructed behind the rear seat of Gordon’s car. Each of the bundles contained a kilogram of cocaine.

Gordon was on his way home to Detroit after picking up the cocaine in Arlington, Texas, and intended to sell the narcotics in his home town.

Gordon pleaded guilty Thursday at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven to possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. Gordon faces up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine up to $1 million, or both at sentencing. If Gordon has a prior felony conviction for a drug crime, the punishment he faces could increase to up to 30 years and the potential fine could increase to $2 million.

Gordon is required to register as a sex offender because of convictions in 1995 and 2002 for criminal sexual conduct, attempted, with a person 13 to 15, according to the Michigan State Police sex offender registry. Gordon is being held in the Titus County, Texas, jail while his case proceeds in Texarkana.

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