WASHINGTON — A clerk in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s religious affairs division has been arrested and is facing drug charges.
Fifty-one-year-old Lorenzo Sanders was arrested Tuesday after members of a SWAT team and U.S. Park Police raided his home on C Street Southeast.
According to charging documents, officers found cocaine in Sanders’ toilet trap, crack cocaine and heroin in the bedroom, and drug paraphernalia in a coat pocket. In total, about 123 grams of cocaine were found.
While Sanders’ home was searched, police also executed a search warrant in Temple Hills, Maryland, at the home of Dominick Sanders, Lorenzo Sanders’ son. Police found about 8 grams of crack cocaine and a gun, the charging documents say, and Dominick Sanders was arrested.
Lorenzo Sanders has been arrested before for drugs; in 1985, he pleaded guilty to selling heroin.
According to Bowser’s office, Sanders has worked for the District since 2012.
A statement from the mayor’s office reads, in part:
“Unlike direct mayoral appointees, Mr. Sanders cannot be immediately terminated at will. We have placed Mr. Sanders on administrative leave and have engaged the HR process necessary to terminate career service employees. The Bowser Administration does not tolerate employees who violate the public trust. We have made Mr. Sanders’ work space available to the police.”
Lorenzo Sanders was charged with unlawful possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
