CHARLOTTE, NC - Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officers Gerald H. Holas, Jr., 35, and Jason A. Ross, 35, both entered guilty pleas today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler in Charlotte to a charge of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. The announcement is made by Gretchen C.F. Shappert, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina; Nathan T. Gray, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina; and Chief Rodney Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

At a hearing today in Charlotte, Holas and Ross entered individual pleas of guilty, to one count contained in individual federal Bills of Information, which were filed on July 22, 2008, simultaneously with individual plea agreements. The Bills of Information charge that Holas and Ross, individually, from in or about July 2007 to in or about June 2008, did knowingly and intentionally conspire with other persons to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, that is, cocaine and cocaine base (crack cocaine), both Schedule II controlled substances. Each Bill of Information alleges that the charged offense involved fifty (50) grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine base (crack cocaine).

Both Gerald H. Holas, Jr. and Jason A. Ross formally entered guilty pleas before the court. As a result of the guilty pleas, each defendant faces a ten-year term of imprisonment. Holas and Ross remain in federal custody pending sentencing in U.S. District Court. A sentencing date has not yet been set by the court.