A former drug dealer who beat prison time by cooperating with police was shot dead 45-minutes after leaving court last week.

The body of 41-year-old Anthony Reaves was found riddled with bullets in the driver's seat of his car on Lindbergh Boulevard on Monday, July 31. Less than an hour before rearing his head in Southwest Philadelphia, Reaves was in a Delaware County courtroom, where he was given eight years probation for admitting to being a member of a drug organization and pleading guilty to conspiracy and drug charges. According to a legal expert, he must have been giving up some serious info to be able to elude time behind bars after being slammed with three felony convictions.

"It was a very lenient sentence. You've got three felonies on this guy. For him to just get up and walk out of court there was a big deal made," said Citizens Crime Commission member John Apeldorn. He pointed to the circumstances of the murder, including it having been pulled off "execution style" with men approaching the vehicle and firing from both sides.

An attorney general spokesperson confirmed that while Reaves was indeed a cooperator, he wasn't expected to be a witness in the upcoming "Operation Bennett Trifecta" trial. Authorities reportedly offered to relocate Reaves, seeing how he was helping to bust down past associates of the Townsend Organization that ran a drug operation out of the Ruth L. Bennett houses. However, he twice turned down the offer, according to the A.G's office.

Source: fox29.com