Drug dealer, 74, whose sentence was commuted by Obama in 2015 is arrested and jailed again after being found with backpack full of pills

A drug dealer whose sentence was reduced by former President Barack Obama in 2015 has been jailed again after he was found with a backpack full of pills. 

Life-long drug trafficker Joseph Burgos, 74, received a new 62-month prison sentence on Tuesday for transporting thousands of opioid pills in 2019. 

In July 2015, Obama granted commutations to Burgos and 45 other individuals. At the time, Burgos was set to spend 360 months in prison for the distribution of cocaine and the use of a communication facility in the commission of a felony. 

His original cocaine trafficking sentence was reduced to eight years of supervised release and a $200,000 fine, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

But in April 2019, while on probation, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents discovered Burgos arriving at a Greyhound bus station in downtown Chicago from Texas with a backpack full of pills, The Chicago Sun Times reported. 

Joseph Burgos, 74, received a 62-month prison term on Tuesday for transporting thousands of opioid pills after he was previously released from prison early by Barack Obama in July 2015 

The Obama administration began a clemency initiative for federal inmates specifically for non-violent, low-level offenders. He is seen in a picture with some of the prisoners at the time- Burgos is not pictured 

Officers found nearly 2,000 oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl inside his bag as Burgos told agents that he was returning from a funeral in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He went on to plead guilty to his drug charge on September 5, 2023 as prosecutors proposed a 72-month sentence to U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, but Burgos' attorney William Hardwicke asked for a 60-month term. 

When he was initially released on parole by Obama, he decided to peruse his dreams of being a novelist. 

He also got a job working as a home health worker and drove an Uber, but has to stop that job as he was unable to obtain a city chauffeur’s license, his attorney said. 

'While these financial difficulties do not excuse Mr. Burgos’ participation in the offense, they do provide some context for understanding Mr. Burgos’ time,' Hardwicke said. 

The Obama administration began a clemency initiative for federal inmates - specifically non-violent, low-level offenders 'who were sentenced at the height of the war on drugs and would likely receive substantially lower sentences today.'

Obama was seen in a photo with some of the prisoners at the time, though Burgos was not pictured. 

In July 2016, the repeat drug trafficker told The Washington Post: 'Being released before your out date is beautiful. But I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t prepared for my release at all. I was lucky to have support from my family.' 

In July 2015, Obama granted commutations to Burgos and 45 other individuals. At the time, Burgos was set to spend decades in prison for the distribution of cocaine and the use of a communication facility in the commission of a felony

Another prisoner, Alton Mills, 54, who was released early by Obama found himself back in prison in May 2023 on attempted murder charges after he shot a woman, leaving her brain-dead

He said that he was 'one of the fortunate ones' after he was commuted by the former president. 

He went on to say that after his early release, his family rented a small studio apartment for him and got him a car. 

Burgos that revealed that at the time, he rekindled with an old girlfriend, moved in with her, started writing a trilogy and got into electrical work with a friend. 

'President Obama gave clemency to more individuals recently, and a couple of them are from Chicago. I don’t have very much myself, but I’m going to see if I can do something for them to help them out when they come out,' he previously said. 

Another prisoner that Obama gave a second at chance at life to also found himself back in prison on attempted murder charges after he shot a woman, leaving her brain-dead in May, cops said. 

Alton Mills, 54, last made the news when Obama cut short his life sentence in 2015 after serving 22 years in jail for what were small time drugs offenses. 

He received an sentence after being arrested in 1993 on federal conspiracy charges as part of a crack cocaine conspiracy. 

His two previous convictions of possession of less than five grams of crack cocaine led to prosecutors filing a sentence enhancement, which saw him sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

His newest conviction, which cops said occurred after he was allegedly involved in a road rage shooting, has now brought on the possibility of another life sentence. 

Obama is seen visiting a federal prison in 2015 

The car the group were traveling in came up behind Mills' SUV at a red light near the I-57 on-ramp in Posen, Illinois, but Mills did not move even after the light had turned green. 

The driver of the other vehicle instead proceeded to pass him without even honking or shouting but Mills appeared to take affront.

He suddenly sped up to catch the car the friends were in and lowered his window before firing three shots from the drivers side, according to Assistant State's Attorney Kathryn Morrissey, during Mills' bail hearing.

One of the bullets struck a woman who had fallen asleep in the back seat of the car leading to a severe head injury. 

Mills later admitted to being the shooter and being responsible for causing 'great bodily harm and imminent death' to the victim. He was charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder.