Hale Boggs Federal Building
501 Magazine Street, Second Floor
New Orleans, LA 70130

Jim Letten, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Mark Chait, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, announced today that GEROME PETERS, age 28, of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(1). PETERS faces a maximum penalty of ten (10) years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a $100.00 special assessment.

On April 20, 2003, Seventh District New Orleans Police Officers responded to a domestic violence call at 4508 Papania Drive. Upon their arrival, the officers observed GEROME PETERS, with a firearm. PETERS refused to release the firearm, forcing the police to contact the N.O.P.D S.W.A.T. unit. The S.W.A.T. unit established contact with PETERS and after a long stand-off, he eventually surrendered. Police officials determined that PETERS was convicted for armed robbery in 1996 and was on parole. Because of his status as a convicted felon, PETERS was prohibited from possessing a firearm. The New Orleans Police Department turned PETERS over to agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for federal prosecution under the Project Safe Neighborhood Initiative. Project Safe Neighborhood is a Nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime. PETERS has been ordered detained by the Honorable Louis Moore, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Duane A. Evans.

The is arrest is the result of "Project Scarecrow," a joint program by the United States Attorney's Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the New Orleans Police Department, is a key component of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Bush Administration's top domestic enforcement priority, which has as its goal the significant reduction and ultimately the eradication of firearms related violence in our communities.
According to U. S. Attorney Letten: "As evidenced by the aggressive and productive efforts which the United States Attorney's Office, together with the New Orleans Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other federal and local enforcement agencies have made against firearms-related offenses and violent offenders in our community, we are absolutely and unswervingly dedicated to relentlessly pursuing all such offenses which can be addressed federally. Our goal is a simple one -- to rid our streets of those violent predators who illegally acquire, carry and use firearms to protect the illegal drug trade and terrorize our citizens, and to keep firearms out of the hands of those who are not permitted to legally own or possess them. We will continue in this effort and we will not fail."

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