SALISBURY, MD - A Wicomico County judge has sentenced a Delaware man to 80 years with all but 40 suspended after he was found guilty of possessing a large amount of heroin and fentanyl with intent to distribute.
The Office of the State’s Attorney for Wicomico County says on August 31, 2022, the Salisbury Police Department searched a home on Truitt Street in Salisbury. Prosecutors say police found a car parked behind the home, and a search of the vehicle uncovered large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and a loaded handgun. Documents in the car and the home contained the name and phone number of Japree Ayres, 24, of Delmar, DE.
Ayres’ two-day trial was held in November 2023, in which a jury convicted him of 3 counts of Possession Large Amount of Controlled Dangerous Substance, 3 counts of Possession with the Intent to Distribute Controlled Dangerous Substance and other charges.
On Thursday, March 14, an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court for Wicomico County sentenced Ayres to 80 years with all but 40 suspended. 10 of those years are a minimum mandatory sentence with limited possibility of parole, according to the State’s Attorney. After incarceration, Ayres will have to serve 5 years of supervised probation and would face another 40 years behind bars should he violate that probation, according to prosecutors.
