Harvest Maurice Sloan, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, South Carolina 2017

Grimy Times investigates a wave of firearm cases cracking down on repeat offenders in South Carolina.

In Greenville, South Carolina, a local man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Harvest Maurice Sloan, a 39-year-old resident of Spartanburg, was found guilty of the crime on January 2017, after a two-day trial in federal court. The sentencing was presided over by United States District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis of Columbia.

According to the investigation, Harvest Maurice Sloan was arrested on April 25, 2017, after a Greenville police officer encountered him at a car while investigating a stolen vehicle report. During the search of the car, the officer located a backpack containing a loaded Ruger 9mm pistol, along with additional 9mm ammunition from the front seat area of the car.

A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) retrieved calls made by Harvest Maurice Sloan from the Greenville County jail that contained conversations relating to the pistol recovered by police.

The case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Project CeaseFire is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon commended the partnership between the state and federal agencies that led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney’s Office adopting the case. “We remain at the ready and are eager to continue and grow this effort—working alongside our state chiefs and sheriffs in taking violent repeat offenders out of our communities.”

Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of some 159 defendants and seizure of approximately 266 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons. The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the Upstate community.