Tampa Man Sentenced to More Than 15 Years As Armed Career Criminal
Tampa, Florida – U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces today that United States District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. sentenced Shavar Brand (30, Tampa) to 188 months in federal prison for selling crack cocaine and for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He pled guilty on December 14, 2011.
According to court documents, on February 1, 2011, Brand sold crack cocaine to an undercover detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. On April 4, 2011, Brand, a previously convicted felon, sold crack cocaine and a firearm to the same undercover detective. The total amount of crack cocaine sold by Brand on those two occasions was approximately 47 grams.
This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James Muench and Joseph Swanson.
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.
###