WEST CHESTER, PA — Judge Allison Bell Royer sentenced 34-year-old Douglas Lambert of Coatesville, to 8½ to 19 years in prison for five individual cases – the earliest of which was in 2017 – involving drugs, illegal firearms, flight from apprehension, and smuggling contraband into the prison, announced the Chester County District Attorney. Lambert pled guilty to four charges in September 2021 and the contraband charge in January 2022.
DA Deb Ryan said, “Douglas Lambert engaged in a pattern of dangerous criminal behavior involving the illegal possession of guns, the intent to sell drugs in our community, and an attempt to burglarize a business. Even while in prison, he continued to engage in criminal activity. It is apparent he believes that society’s rules do not apply to him. This sentence reinforces that we will not tolerate this behavior in Chester County.”
In September 2017, Lambert fled the scene of a car accident on Lincoln Hwy in Coatesville with a firearm he was not licensed to possess. This event led to a search of his Coatesville residence, where police found a large quantity of methamphetamine consistent with the intent to deliver.
Knowing that the police were looking for him, Lambert became a fugitive. He was arrested and found to be in possession of another illegal firearm.
While Lambert was held in Chester County Prison, he conspired with three other people, two of whom had been former inmates with him, to burglarize a local storage facility. For this, he was convicted by a jury in May 2019
Later, while still at Chester County Prison, he was granted a furlough to attend his grandmother’s funeral. When he returned to prison, he tested positive for alcohol and was found with smuggled contraband.
The City of Coatesville Police and Chester County Detectives investigated. Senior Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza was the assigned prosecutor.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News.