CUMBERLAND — A 29-year-old Petersburg, Va., man was sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection with the June 2008 home invasion of a drug dealer on Pulaski Street, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod Rosenstein.

Ray Blanks was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett to five years of supervised release upon completion of the prison term for conspiracy to commit armed commercial robbery and committing such a robbery; conspiracy to possess and possession of firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to evidence presented at his four-day trial, Blanks, Danny Jones and others conspired to rob a drug dealer they knew in Cumberland and then drove to Cumberland on June 24, 2008. The next day, one of the residents in the home was asleep in a back bedroom and was awakened by Blanks tapping a gun on his chest. Blanks and Jones, who was also armed, demanded to know where the money and drugs were kept and asked for the drug dealer, who also lived at the residence.

Jones and the others then took the resident at gunpoint to look for money and drugs in several rooms before forcing the resident to lie face down on the floor.

According to trial testimony, a female resident returned home and was accosted by Blanks and Jones, who had put on a ski mask to conceal his face. The two men demanded money and drugs, finally taking a roll of nineteen $2 bills from the woman’s bedroom along with cocaine and cash that they found on the woman. The two demanded that the woman call the drug dealer, who was her boyfriend, and tell him to come home.

Witnesses testified that the man returned home at about 7 a.m., and was then pistol-whipped by Blanks and Jones, who again demanded money and drugs. The drug dealer was able to retrieve his gun and fired two shots at Blanks and Jones inside the house, as they fled out the back door. Blanks and Jones ran as the drug dealer followed them, continuing to fire his gun, striking Jones in the leg and buttocks, with that bullet eventually passing to his abdomen. Blanks and Jones fled in a waiting car with a third man.

According to trial testimony, the car was stopped by law enforcement and Blanks, Jones and the third man, identified as Corey Lee Adams, were arrested on the Crosstown Bridge of Interstate 68 by two off-duty Cumberland Police officers in marked vehicles.

Blanks was searched and police recovered the cocaine and cash taken from the woman. Police also saw in plain view in the car the ski mask later identified as the one worn by Jones and a pair of brown cloth gloves.

Jones, 25, of Petersburg, was convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit and committing the armed robbery and conspiring to and possessing firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence. Jones is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 23 and faces a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Numerous charges against all three men in Allegany County filed at the time of the arrests were subsequently dismissed after the case was moved to the jurisdiction of federal authorities.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, C3I, Allegany County Bureau of Police and Maryland State Police also assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys A. David Copperthite and Peter Nothstein prosecuted the case.