WCDA Sentencing Result

Trafficking Conviction Leads to Habitual Offender Sentencing

The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has announced that Brice James Daniels, 43, has been adjudicated a habitual criminal and sentenced in District Court today on drug trafficking charges. Daniels, who committed his sixth and seventh felony convictions while on probation for earlier felony cases, was sentenced to life in prison with parole-eligibility beginning after a minimum of ten years has been served. He was also sentence to a consecutive term of 12 to 48 months in prison on a second count of trafficking in the case. The sentences follow an October 2018 trial where a jury found Daniels guilty on two counts of Trafficking a Controlled Substance. Daniels was also sentenced to 12-34 months in prison and 28-72 months in prison on two separate felony probation cases.

The sentencing stemmed from a March 12, 2018, incident in which Daniels was arrested by the joint Reno and Sparks Police Departments’ Crime Suppression Unit (CSU). On that date, CSU detectives were investigating Daniels’ involvement in methamphetamine and heroin sales in the Reno/Sparks area. An undercover drug-buy operation was conducted and Daniels was ultimately arrested for the sale of an ounce of methamphetamine and a quarter ounce of heroin. Following the arrest, this office filed formal criminal charges against Daniels and the case proceeded to trial.  

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Hoppe, who is assigned as the offices’ High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) prosecutor. The HIDTA team focuses on the disruption and prosecution of drug traffickers in Washoe County. At sentencing, DDA Hoppe highlighted that despite repeated opportunities for treatment, diversion, rehabilitation, participation in specialty courts, along with significant terms of incarceration, Daniels’ demonstrated a complete inability to refrain from committing new crimes in Washoe County.

For more information on the WCDA’s Office HIDTA Prosecutor Program, please contact the PIO.