Federal Jury Convicts Sanford Man on Firearms Charge
Orlando, Florida – U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces today that a federal jury found Charlie Warren Pendleton (32, Sanford) guilty of possession of a firearm and ammunition affecting commerce by a convicted felon. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 16, 2012, before Chief United States District Judge Anne C. Conway. Pendelton was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 16, 2011.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on November 23, 2010, a Sanford police officer stopped Pendleton because he matched the description of a gunman that had been involved in an armed confrontation in the area of Castle Brewer Court. Pendleton fled on foot as the responding officer arrived on the scene. He ran behind a retirement home and a church. A citizen in the church parking lot observed Pendleton tossing a loaded handgun onto the roof of the church in an effort to hide it from the police. Pendleton was previously convicted on state charges for possession of cocaine, aggravated assault, carrying a concealed firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. As such, he is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law.
This case was investigated by the City of Sanford Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Bodnar, Jr.
It is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods
program – a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy led by ATF. United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill, along with Virginia O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.
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