Fake Cop Rips Off Drug Couriers, Lands Long Prison Term: Court Records

NORRISTOWN, PA — A Montgomery County man who was found guilty of impersonating a police officer while committing armed robberies against couriers responsible for driving prescription drugs from distribution centers to local pharmacies has been sentenced to 33 to 66 years in state prison for his crimes, according to media reports and court records.

Brandon Holmes, 34, of Lower Merion Township, was sentenced earlier this month by Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Wendy Rothstein after being found guilty during an earlier jury trial on numerous felony and misdemeanor criminal charges.

Court records in the case show that Holmes went on trial for four days in late May and early June on various criminal charges relating to what investigators said was a serial armed robbery case involving Holmes impersonating police officers and pulling over drug couriers to rob them of their products.

The couriers work for delivery services responsible for bringing the pharmaceutical medications from distribution facilities to local pharmacies.

An article in the Mercury newspaper said that the incidents occurred between May and September 2019 in Plymouth and Whitemarsh Townships.

Holmes, who was charged alongside five other individuals — some acted as lookouts while others helped ransack the vehicles in search of the medications — was ultimately found guilty of robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, possessing an instrument of crime, impersonating a public servant, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, kidnapping, terroristic threats, aggravated assault, simple assault, conspiracy and related offenses.

The Mercury reported that the victims, all of whom were legally employed as drug couriers in a legitimate business role, were targeted by Holmes and the others after seeing police lights and believing they were being stopped by police officers.

Holmes and the co-conspirators would approach the victims' vehicles as if they were on-duty law enforcement, but they ultimately restrained, and occasionally beat, the victims after pulling them from their vehicles during the illegal traffic stops.

The scheme was reportedly carried out so that Holmes and the others could package the prescription medications for resale illegally. Narcotics were included in the types of drugs stolen.

Court records show that Rothstein, the judge, also ordered Holmes to pay restitution in the amount of $42,747.60, which would be split among the other co-conspirators, who were identified in court papers as Eugene Fortune and Daniel McLaughlin.

According to court records, Fortune, 36, of Philadelphia, was sentenced earlier this month to 11-and-one-half to 23 months in prison after being found guilty of various criminal charges during an earlier jury trial.

McLaughlin, 29, of Upper Darby, pleaded guilty in connection to his role in the case last month.

Records show McLaughlin, who also drew state prison time, decided to plead guilty days into a jury trial.

Another defendant in the case, Malik Fowler, 24, of Upper Darby, received 2-and-one-half to 6 years in state prison after a jury trial in June, according to the criminal docket sheet in the case.