2 Lancaster County men plead guilty to federal charges from 2014 burglary

A Lancaster County man will serve time in federal prison on charges stemming from a 2014 burglary.

Martiquos Javon McIlwain, 23, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison, five years’ probation and a $200 fine after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Witherspoon.

Reco Valarie Cauthen, 42, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and will be sentenced at a later date.

Evidence presented at a hearing indicated someone called the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office about an ongoing burglary and gave a description of the burglars and the truck they were driving – a white pickup with a dealer tag, Witherspoon said.

As officers arrived, the owner of the car dealership arrived and gave officers the name of the person he had allowed to test drive that vehicle earlier in the day, and that the vehicle had not been returned.

Officers searching the area for the vehicle found a black Lexus driven by Reco Cauthen, and three other people, all of whom police were familiar with because they had been mentioned as receiving stolen items, Witherspoon said.

When officers began following the car, McIlwain jumped out of a rear door with a book bag and began to run. They later caught him and smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the book bag.

Inside the book bag, police found three individually wrapped packages of marijuana totaling about 88 grams, a jar containing 11 grams of marijuana, three digital scales and a 9mm pistol, Witherspoon said. The gun had been reported stolen, and McIlwain had two grams of marijuana in his pocket.

Other officers spotted the Lexus nearby and found Cauthen, who did not have a driver’s license, driving the car, Witherspoon said. Cauthen was arrested after admitting he didn’t have a license. Inside the car, officers found a 9mm pistol.

An officer reported seeing both Cauthen’s vehicle and the white truck used in the burglary at Cauthen’s home earlier in the day, Witherspoon said.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for his home and found a .45-caliber pistol, 34 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, six 30-round magazines for an AK-47 rifle, a .380-caliber pistol and a 7.62x39 caliber round of ammunition.

Cauthen faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "2 Lancaster County men plead guilty to federal charges from 2014 burglary."