Marcus Sowell, Unregistered Firearm, New Mexico 2016

State: New Mexico
Category: Drug Trafficking|Violent Crime
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/two-albuquerque-men-sentenced-convictions-federal-drug-trafficking-and-firearms-charges" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – Marcus Sowell, 19, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release for possession of an unregistered firearm.

Sowell was arrested during an ATF-led investigation that resulted in the filing of 59 federal indictments and a federal criminal complaint charging 104 Bernalillo County residents with federal firearms and narcotics trafficking offenses.

The investigation began in mid-April 2016, when ATF personnel from throughout the country joined forces with federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies in New Mexico to combat the high rate of violent crime in the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

The investigation was undertaken in support of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies collaborate with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution primarily based on their prior criminal convictions with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible.

Sowell and his co-defendants Damon Giles, 23, Michael Borrego, 25, Adrian Banks, 28, and Marcus Lewis, 27, were charged in a 12-count indictment filed on June 30, 2016. The indictment charged Sowell with possession of a firearm not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR) and engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license on May 19, 2016.

Sowell pled guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm and admitted that on May 19, 2016, he possessed a firearm not registered to him in the NFRTR.

According to the indictment, the offenses were committed in Bernalillo County, N.M.

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