FIVE STAR VICE LORD GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO
180 MONTHS PRISON FOR FEDERAL FIREARMS VIOLATION

Memphis, TN - Terrell L. Harris, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee and James M. Cavanaugh, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Nashville Field Division, announce that on November 19, 2003, Charles Ray SMITH, age 35, of Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced in the Federal District Court in Memphis, TN, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C., Section 922 (g)(1).

SMITH was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Daniel Breen to 180 months incarceration. Additionally, Judge Breen placed SMITH on three (3) years of supervised release which SMITH must complete upon his release from prison. Since SMITH had three or more violent felony convictions prior to his Federal firearms violation arrest, he was sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal. Therefore, Judge Breen, under the authority and mandate of the Federal sentencing guidelines, enhanced SMITH'S sentence to the 180 months. SMITH was found guilty of the above-described violation subsequent to a May 14, 2003 jury trial.

This investigation began on May 12, 2000 when ATF Special Agent Alan Oxley and Task Force Officer Norma Hayslett, while conducting surveillance in the area of Pearce and Orphanage Streets in Memphis, observed SMITH, a Five Star Vice Lord gang member, with a small revolver in his rear pant pocket.

On May 18, 2000 ATF Special Agents from the Memphis Field Office and investigators assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force executed a Federal search warrant at SMITH'S residence, 633 Pearce Street, Memphis. During the search investigators found a loaded RG Industries .38 caliber revolver in SMITH'S dresser drawer. Subsequent to the recovery of the gun, SMITH was interviewed and admitted to possessing the revolver at the time he approached the investigators who had been conducting surveillance near his house on May 12, 2000. SMITH said he "got my ma-ma's gun for protection."

SMITH'S criminal history includes convictions for Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Rape of a Child, and various drug-related violations.

The successful resolution of this case is a result of the investigative efforts of ATF Special Agents and police officers assigned to the Violent Crime Task Force.

Assistant United States Attorney John Tibbetts prosecuted the case for the government.

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