Waynesboro man sentenced to 25 years for federal gun and drug charges

The 25-year sentence a federal judge imposed this week on a Waynesboro man for drug trafficking and firearms possessions offenses will ultimately, in practice, be little more than a technicality. 

Anthony Michael Cobb, 49, was sentenced Wednesday, Feb. 6 by United States District Judge Sylvia Rambo to 300 months in prison followed by a six-year term of supervised release, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. 

A federal jury in April convicted Cobb of three counts of unlawful possession of five separate firearms and of being a previously convicted felon who was not permitted to possess firearms. In addition, the jury found him guilty of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. 

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Cobb is already serving a 41- to 100-year sentence at the state prison in Camp Hill for attempted murder and related charges of which a Franklin County jury found him guilty in June, according to the news release and court records. The federal judge ordered Cobb's 25-year sentence to run concurrently with his current sentence, meaning he will not serve additional time. 

Cobb's federal and local cases both stem from an April 2016 shooting.

As Public Opinion previously reported, police said Cobb attempted to shoot a man who pulled a knife on him during a fight, then recruited two other men to go find him. Those men, however, went after the wrong person and one of them shot that person. 

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That May, police searched Cobb’s apartment and found a firearm, marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroin, an assortment of prescription pills, digital scales, plastic bags, razor blades and piles of cash, the department said. Police also located firearms at his storage unit.  

While local authorities charged him for the shooting and related events, federal authorities took up the drug and gun charges. 

In imposing the federal sentence, the judge found Cobb to be an "armed career criminal" and a "career offender," according to the release.

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The investigation was conducted by the Waynesboro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James T. Clancy and Carlo D. Marchioli prosecuted the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which is a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer. It was also part of a district-wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.

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