KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Kalamazoo man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being caught with 12 pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop, U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey announced Monday.
Brandon Lemar Baines, 36, was on parole with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) after serving more than four years for previous methamphetamine trafficking and firearm offenses when authorities discovered the drugs in early 2025.
The arrest occurred on Jan. 23, 2025, when officers with the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team (KVET) stopped a van returning to Kalamazoo from Detroit. Investigators found the meth on the floorboard of the passenger side. Two other men were in the van at the time: 30-year-old Kerriem Ishmael Stevenson Jr. and 30-year-old Johnnie Montico McAllister.
KVET had been monitoring Baines and Stevenson for months. That day, officers also searched two Kalamazoo homes linked to the men, seizing 200 grams of fentanyl, a firearm, and drug trafficking paraphernalia. Stevenson, who was in the passenger seat, was sentenced to over 15 years in prison on Dec. 8, 2025.
McAllister, a felon on parole at the time, was found with a loaded Glock 9mm pistol. He previously served seven years for armed robbery and was sentenced to an additional three years for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
