Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ORLANDO MAN SENTENCED TO FIFTEEN YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR POSSESSION OF FIREARM AND AMMUNITION

Orlando, Florida – On March 18, 2009 United States District Judge Gregory A. Presnell sentenced Anthony Grant Jackson (age 36, of Orlando) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition after having been convicted of a felony. Jackson had pled guilty to the charge on November 6, 2008.

According to court documents, on the evening of October 23, 2007, at 9:15 p.m., two Orlando police officers and a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) agent were on patrol together in the 2000 block of Jacobs Place in Orlando. They spotted Jackson on a bicycle and the officers attempted to stop him. A struggle ensued, and the officers recovered a .22 caliber revolver loaded with six rounds of ammunition.

As a previously convicted felon, Jackson is prohibited from possessing either firearms or ammunition under federal law. Because of his criminal record, Jackson qualified as an Armed Career Criminal under federal sentencing statutes, which resulted in a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 15 years.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” program - a nationwide gun violence reduction initiative supported by ATF. United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton, along with Virginia O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Tampa Field Division, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida, in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials. The program aims to reduce violent crime by locating and seizing unlawfully possessed guns and then swiftly prosecuting the offenders.

This case was jointly investigated by ATF and the Orlando Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney E. Jackson Boggs Jr.