Pender Senatus, 38, of Delray Beach, is headed to federal prison for nine years after being convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition — a charge that stuck after more serious firearm and assault counts collapsed in court.
Sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra to 108 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release, Senatus was found guilty by a trial jury on January 25, 2019. The conviction, under Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2), stems from a violent arrest on July 25, 2017, when Broward County Sheriff’s Office SWAT detectives moved in on Senatus for a second-degree murder warrant.
As officers, sworn in as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals, moved to take him into custody outside his Delray Beach home, Senatus shouted, “Hell no,” and bolted for the front door. Detectives tackled him as he pulled a loaded handgun from his waistband — the weapon discharging from his grip during the struggle. Though the firearm was made in Florida and couldn’t be used for a federal firearms charge, the ammunition inside was manufactured out of state, giving prosecutors the hook they needed.
That jurisdictional detail proved decisive. Senatus was acquitted at trial of assaulting three federal officers with a firearm under Title 18 U.S.C. Section 111(a)(1), and of brandishing a weapon during those assaults under Section 924(c). But the ammo charge stuck, highlighting how federal law can weaponize even the smallest interstate threads in violent criminal cases.
This case emerged from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the DOJ’s nationwide push to target repeat violent offenders through coordinated federal, state, and local task forces. The Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force, under the U.S. Marshals Service, played a key role in the takedown, alongside ATF and BSO investigators.
U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan praised the work of the ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and Broward County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Shockley prosecuted. Court records are available via the Southern District of Florida’s public docket at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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