SAVANNAH, GA: 9 defendants are amongst these going through federal costs together with unlawful possession of firearms after separate indictments by a grand jury within the Southern District of Georgia, whereas current actions in U.S. District Courtroom embody responsible pleas and prison sentences associated to unlawful gun possession. 

The indicted circumstances are being investigated as a part of Challenge Secure Neighborhoods in collaboration with federal, state and native legislation enforcement businesses, together with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI, to cut back violent crime with measures that embody focusing on convicted felons who illegally carry weapons.

“Convicted felons illegally carrying firearms are considerably concerned in violent crime plaguing our communities,” stated David H. Estes, U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of Georgia. “With our legislation enforcement companions, we’ll proceed to make our streets safer by placing such folks behind bars.”   

Prior to now 4 years, greater than 800 defendants have been federally charged within the Southern District of Georgia for unlawful firearms offenses – most frequently for possessing a firearm after conviction for a earlier felony. Current federal laws will increase the utmost penalty for unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon to fifteen years, up from 10, for these present in possession after June 25, 2022.

Defendants named in federal indictments from the January 2023 time period of the U.S. District Courtroom grand jury embody:

• Akeem Ajmia Lanier, 34, of Metter, Ga., charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon; Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana; and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime;
• Dexcadrick Graddy, 25, of Dublin, Ga., charged with Distribution of Fentanyl; Distribution of Methamphetamine and Fentanyl; Possession with Intent to Distribute Metonitazine (a fentanyl analog), and Eutylone (bathtub salts); Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine; Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl and Metonitazine; and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime;
• Milton Parker III, 36, of Savannah, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
• Michael Floyd, 30, of Savannah, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
• Reginald Basic Jackson, 36, of Savannah, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
• Tyrique Marquez Mills, 25, of Waycross, Ga., charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
• Robert Sanders, 65, of Augusta, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon;
• Tony Lavardo Blount Jr., 32, of Augusta, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon; and,
• Terrance Webster Dunn, 32, of Augusta, charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. 

Felony indictments include solely costs; defendants are presumed harmless except and till confirmed responsible.

Further defendants not too long ago have been adjudicated on federal costs that embody unlawful firearms possession:

• Raheem DaSheen Jackson, 31, of Savannah, was sentenced to 116 months in jail after his conviction at trial of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. A jury convicted Jackson of the cost Aug. 17, 2022, the place court docket testimony from Savannah Law enforcement officials described Jackson operating from a January 2021 visitors cease and dropping a pistol as he fled. Jackson, who was adjudicated to be an Armed Profession Felony due to a number of prior felony convictions together with unlawful gun possession, confronted a minimal sentence of 15 years in jail.
• Daquan Dwayne Younger, 27, of Savannah, was sentenced to 100 months in jail after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Savannah Law enforcement officials arrested Younger after a March 2022 visitors cease after they discovered a pistol in his waistband.
• James Wayne Cooper Jr., 37, of Waynesboro, Ga., was sentenced to 44 months in jail and fined $2,000 after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Burke County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Cooper in October 2020 after Cooper drove right into a discipline and tried to run away from a visitors cease. Deputies discovered a loaded pistol in Cooper’s automobile.
• Cody Truitt Devore, 24, of Sylvania, Ga., was sentenced to 32 months in jail and fined $1,500 after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Devore was on federally supervised launch from a previous firearms conviction in January 2022 when Columbia County Sheriff’s deputies carried out a visitors cease and located two rifles in his automobile.
• Maurice Brown, 21, of Savannah, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. In July 2022, Grey sped away from an tried visitors cease in Savannah by a Georgia State Patrol trooper and later ran from the automobile. Savannah Law enforcement officials discovered him hiding in a close-by house, and located a pistol underneath the motive force’s seat of the automobile Brown was driving.
• Christopher Donnell Crumbley, 34, of Waynesboro, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Burke County sheriff’s deputies arrested Crumbley on excellent prison warrants in Dec. 2021 and located three pistols in his possession.  
• Dontrell Kydreek Mathis, 30, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies discovered two pistols in Mathis’ automobile after a visitors cease in Aug. 2022.
• Trevor Elijah Walker, 24, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies had been trying to serve arrest warrants on Walker in November 2019 when he ran away, dropping a pistol as he fled.
• Windsor Hodge, 64, of Martinez, Ga., awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Columbia County Sheriff’s deputies searched Hodge’s residence on a warrant in January 2022 and located 13 firearms. Hodge beforehand was convicted of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime, a felony.  
• Deontre Hubert, 28, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Hubert had a pistol in his waistband in June 2022 when pulled over by Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies for a visitors violation. He beforehand was convicted in state court docket of Involuntary Manslaughter, a felony.
• Marshall Lee Cushman, 39, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent retrieved a rifle from an Avera, Ga., residence in September 2021, and Cushman admitted leaving the gun there. Cushman has a number of prior felony convictions.
• Titus Nathaniel Travis, 23, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Travis was on probation from a previous felony conviction in June 2022 when Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies, FBI brokers and officers from the Georgia Division of Neighborhood Supervision searched Titus’ residence and located two pistols and a rifle. Travis is a member of a Bloods-affiliated prison road gang.   
• David Alexander Harris, 42, of Augusta, awaits sentencing after pleading responsible to Possession with Intent to Distribute Eutylone and Cocaine, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Harris in March 2020 after discovering him asleep on the wheel of his automobile at a visitors mild. A pistol was mendacity in Harris’ lap.

Companies investigating these circumstances embody the ATF, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Savannah Police Division, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Workplace, and the Georgia State Patrol.

The circumstances are being prosecuted for the USA by the Southern District of Georgia U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.

Beneath federal legislation, it’s unlawful for a person to own a firearm if she or he falls into one in all 9 prohibited classes together with being a felon; unlawful alien; or illegal consumer of a managed substance. Additional, it’s illegal to own a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense or violent crime. It’s also unlawful to buy – and even to aim to buy – firearms if the client is a prohibited individual or illegally buying a firearm on behalf of others. Mendacity on ATF Type 4473, which is used to lawfully buy a firearm, is also a federal offense. 

For extra info from the ATF on the lawful buying of firearms, please see: https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/atfw-form-4473