NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

September 11, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Project Ceasefire:
BOLIVAR MAN SENTENCED TO 21 YEARS FOR ILLEGAL FIREARMS

          SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Bolivar, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing firearms.

          Edward McBee, 47, of Bolivar, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. McBee was sentenced as an armed career criminal due to his prior felony convictions.

          “Project Ceasefire is designed to keep armed criminals off the streets,” Wood said. “Our neighborhoods are safer when repeat offenders are sentenced to long prison terms.”

          McBee was arrested at his residence on Dec. 1, 2005, after escaping from the Vernon County, Mo., jail.

          On Feb. 26, 2007, McBee pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. McBee, who has at least 24 criminal felony convictions that include multiple counts of car theft and forgery, was in possession of a Lorcin .380-caliber pistol and a Remington .22-caliber rifle at the time of his arrest. Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in posses! sion of any firearm or ammunition.

          McBee also pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and to being in possession of a stolen firearm, the Lorcin .380-caliber pistol. McBee admitted that he used the Lorcin .380-caliber pistol in furtherance of the crime of distribution of marijuana between April 14, 2004, and Dec. 1, 2005, in Polk County, Mo.

          This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Project Ceasefire

          Project Ceasefire, launched in October 1999, is a cooperative initiative by federal and local law enforcement and the Kansas City Crime Commission that targets for federal prosecution persons who unlawfully use or possess firearms.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at
www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html