ATLANTA — An Atlanta man who received a sentence commutation from former President Joe Biden in 2024 is facing a new federal drug charge after investigators seized drugs, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia officials.
Walter Lee Muhammad, 46, appeared in federal court Thursday in North Carolina on a charge of possessing controlled substances with the intent to distribute them.
He was accused of being in possession of large amounts of suspected cocaine, fentanyl and heroin.
According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, DEA agents saw Muhammad loading suspected drugs into his BMW in Atlanta on Aug. 5.
Officials say investigators followed him to Greensboro, where deputies stopped the vehicle and a K-9 allegedly alerted them to narcotics.
A search of the BMW turned up about 29 kilograms of suspected cocaine, prosecutors said. The following day, officials say agents searched Muhammad’s Midtown Atlanta apartment and say they found two kilograms of suspected fentanyl and seven kilograms of suspected heroin.
Agents also searched a southwest Atlanta property and recovered three firearms, including a stolen pistol, according to prosecutors.
“Muhammad is a serial drug trafficker who despite receiving the extraordinary gift of presidential clemency, continued to deal lethal fentanyl and other dangerous drugs,” Hertzberg said.
DEA Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung said Muhammad “returned to trafficking fentanyl and putting lives at risk” despite receiving a second chance.
Muhammad has multiple prior drug trafficking convictions, including a 2020 federal conviction for possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Biden commuted Muhammad’s 10-year sentence in December 2024 as part of a clemency action involving 1,499 federal prisoners.
A federal criminal complaint was filed against Muhammad in the Northern District of Georgia on Aug. 7, according to officials.