A 46-year-old District man is facing a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him on all seven counts of a federal indictment accusing him of selling PCP and cocaine near a Southwest D.C. playground while carrying loaded firearms. Jermaine Fairnot was found guilty following a four-day trial in Washington, and jurors deliberated for six hours before returning the verdict.
According to Daily Voice, the case traces back to Oct. 14, 2022, when Metropolitan Police officers patrolling King Greenleaf Recreation Center in Southwest D.C. spotted a group of men gathered around a Toyota Camry registered to Fairnot. Officers searching the vehicle recovered about four ounces of PCP, 56 empty glass vials, and a loaded Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol, per the same outlet's account of the case. Court records reviewed by CaseMine add that the responding officers identified a loaded .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun protruding from under the driver's seat after illuminating the vehicle with flashlights when they saw the group disperse.
A Second Arrest at the Courthouse
Fairnot was arrested again nearly a month later, on Nov. 9, 2022, while he was meeting with his probation officer at the courthouse. Paperwork tied the vehicle he was driving that day to Fairnot, and investigators searched the Toyota Camry with a K-9, uncovering 4.85 grams of cocaine base and nearly 30 grams of PCP packaged in three vials, the report notes. Another loaded handgun, along with additional empty vials and a scale, was also found in the car, according to the same account.
Court filings examined by CaseMine put more precise figures on that second search, stating that law enforcement recovered 64.7 grams of cocaine, 32.6 grams of rock-based PCP, three PCP-filled vials, a digital scale, and a loaded Glock semiautomatic handgun from the vehicle. The discrepancy in reported drug weights between the two accounts is unresolved in the available record. Prosecutors say a K-9 unit alerted on the car in the courthouse parking lot before that search was carried out.
Judge Rejected Bid to Split the Trial
Ahead of trial, Fairnot's defense had sought to sever the seven-count indictment into two separate proceedings, one for the October search and one for the November search, arguing that combining them would prejudice the jury. Chief Judge James E. Boasberg denied that motion in October 2025, ruling that evidence from each incident would be admissible in a trial of the other, according to the CaseMine filing.
Fairnot was ultimately convicted of two counts of unlawful possession with intent to distribute PCP, unlawful possession of PCP with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a playground, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, among other charges. He had been prohibited from possessing a firearm and has three prior narcotics convictions, for which he was previously sentenced to terms of more than a year, Daily Voice reports.
Why the Playground Location Matters
The proximity to King Greenleaf Recreation Center's playground is central to the severity of the case. Under 21 U.S.C. § 860, possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a playground doubles maximum statutory prison sentences and mandates minimum prison terms that cannot be suspended or replaced with probation, per the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel. King Greenleaf Recreation Center, located at 201 N Street SW in Ward 6, includes a children's playground, indoor gymnasium, spray park, and athletic fields run by the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, according to the D.C. Department of General Services.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Fairnot is a repeat offender who possessed PCP while armed with a loaded gun near a children's playground, and that he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison. Pirro, whose office prosecuted the case, assumed office as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in May 2025 before receiving Senate confirmation in August 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Fairnot's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 24 in federal court.
A Recreation Center With a Troubled Recent Stretch
The site has drawn repeated attention from law enforcement in recent months. In April, Metropolitan Police arrested eight juveniles outside King Greenleaf Recreation Center after fights broke out around the perimeter of a city-sponsored Teen Spring Jam event that drew over 1,000 youth attendees, as Hoodline previously reported. In July, Hoodline also reported on a shooting that wounded a man near the same facility. The recreation center borders the Greenleaf public housing complex, a 1959-built D.C. Housing Authority property slated for multi-phase redevelopment, according to the D.C. Housing Authority.
Fairnot's case also fits a broader pattern of federal enforcement against PCP trafficking in the District. Federal drug threat assessments from the Department of Justice have long identified Washington as one of the primary metropolitan distribution centers and consumption markets for PCP in the country. In June 2025, a federal jury in D.C. convicted a local resident of conspiracy to distribute PCP, a case Hoodline covered as part of a broader joint effort by the DEA and Metropolitan Police Department to target regional PCP rings.
