PEORIA, ILL. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Department of Justice), published as received.

PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, Keyshawn Q. Banks, 24, of the 1000 block of West Thrush Avenue, was sentenced on March 9, 2023, to 120 months of imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine (“Ice”).

At the sentencing hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm, the government presented evidence establishing that Banks distributed ice methamphetamine in the Peoria area from at least March 2022 to July 2022. On July 13, 2022, officers intercepted Banks in his vehicle on his way to a drug sale. When several officers surrounded his vehicle, Banks tried to flee from the scene but struck a nearby house and was apprehended. Officers then found 118 grams of methamphetamine on the backseat of his car. The methamphetamine was 99% pure. Banks was held accountable for possessing and distributing 2.78 pounds of methamphetamine over the course of the four-month investigation.

A criminal complaint was filed against Banks in July 2022, and he was indicted in August 2022. He entered a guilty plea in September 2022. Judge Mihm accepted Banks’s guilty plea in December 2022.

The statutory penalty for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute is a minimum of ten years to life imprisonment, a possible fine of up to $10 million dollars, and no less than 5 years to life of supervised release.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and Peoria Police Department, assisted by the Illinois State Police Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team (“TRIDENT”), investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Hanna represented the government in the prosecution.

The case against Banks is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.