A convicted cocaine trafficker once made infamous by a Baltimore witness-intimidation video is now a fugitive after vanishing during a federal prison transfer out of southern Miami-Dade County. Sherman Kemp, 47, known on the streets as Goose, was on the run as of Saturday morning after escaping during a transfer from federal detention.
A Transfer That Never Reached Georgia
Kemp had been held at the Federal Correctional Institution Miami satellite camp at 15801 SW 137 Ave. and was supposed to arrive at FCI Jesup in Georgia by 9 p.m. Friday, according to WPLG Local 10. Instead, he vanished after the transfer out of the Miami camp, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that he disappeared following that move. The report did not specify where the disappearance occurred.
The U.S. Marshals Service is asking anyone with information about Kemp's whereabouts to call 786-988-6594, per the same station's report. The facility Kemp left behind is a minimum-security satellite camp, distinct from the main complex at FCI Jesup where he was headed. Per the Federal Bureau of Prisons, these satellite camps house low-risk inmates in dormitory-style housing with limited or no perimeter fencing. The available description does not address the legal custody of inmates in transit between facilities.
The Sentence Behind the Escape
Kemp's federal cases stemmed from multiple drug trafficking and firearm convictions in Maryland and Pennsylvania, the outlet's updated reporting clarified. His record traces back to a 2008 federal case, in which he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Maryland to drug conspiracy and firearm charges; sentencing was scheduled for October 10, 2008, according to the Department of Justice. That case followed his flight from a 2002 Baltimore drug bust.
Two years later, on October 14, 2010, U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner sentenced Kemp to 30 years in prison in Philadelphia after his conviction for conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, as documented by the FBI. That case tied him to the multi-state Phillips Cocaine Organization, which moved cocaine from Texas across the Mid-Atlantic using commercial tractor-trailers. Third Circuit appellate records also discuss Maurice Phillips, who was sentenced in 2010 to four consecutive life sentences for trafficking and murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Trouble Followed Him Behind Bars
The provided reporting does not document criminal activity by Kemp after he was locked up.
The Video That Made Him Famous
Kemp gained notoriety through a “Stop [expletive] Snitching” video filmed in Baltimore, per Local 10's reporting. The video featured drug dealers threatening residents and included a viral cameo from NBA star Carmelo Anthony, according to Police1. The tape prompted major law enforcement crackdowns and spurred Maryland legislative initiatives to increase penalties for witness intimidation. The article does not identify additional recent Baltimore cases tied to that street culture.
Escape Adds to an Already Long Sentence
The available sources do not specify the penalty Kemp could face if captured or whether any additional sentence would run consecutively to his existing sentence.
This is not the first time a minimum-security federal camp in the Southeast has had an inmate walk away. In May, a federal inmate serving time at the FCI Jesup satellite camp — the very facility Kemp was being transferred toward — similarly escaped custody, prompting a multi-agency search by the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI, as Hoodline reported at the time in its coverage of the Jesup walkaway inmate case. FCI Jesup has also faced scrutiny over internal security lapses; Hoodline reported in February that a former Bureau of Prisons officer pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering tied to contraband smuggling at that facility.
The search for Kemp remains active, and the story is still developing as authorities work to determine exactly how and where he slipped away, and whether he had help from outside associates.
