Tallahassee Man Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Possession Of A Firearm By A Convicted Felon | USAO-NDFL

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Chester Herbert, 41, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced to 15 years federal prison after pleading guilty to the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Jason R. Coody, acting US attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the verdict.

Court documents show that on December 9, 2018, Tallahassee Police Department officers responded to a domestic disturbance and found Herbert loading items into a friend’s vehicle. The officers found that Herbert had several pending arrest warrants and arrested him. Witnesses reported that Herbert put a firearm in his friend’s vehicle before the officers arrived. The friend allowed the officers to retrieve the weapon that had previously been reported stolen. Herbert then admitted his possession of the firearm and an ammunition box.

Herbert’s criminal record includes eleven capital crime convictions in Georgia and Florida, several of which involve drug distribution and violence against police officers. Given the nature of his previous serious criminal convictions, Herbert qualified as an armed professional criminal and received increased federal sentences.

“Those who repeatedly commit serious crimes deserve substantial prison terms,” ​​said acting US Attorney Coody. “Thanks to the outstanding work of our law enforcement partners and honest, law-abiding citizens, this armed felon has been held accountable for his continued criminal behavior.”

“The possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is not only illegal, but also endangers the security of our communities,” said Craig W. Saier, the ATF special agent in charge. “This condemnation is another example of how working with our partners and citizens makes our communities safer.”

This verdict is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Tallahassee Police Department with the assistance of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. United States Assistant Attorneys James A. McCain and Kaitlin Weiss are pursuing the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), at the heart of the Department of Justice’s efforts to reduce violent crime. PSN is an evidence-based program that has been shown to be effective in reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a wide range of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses its enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and works with local prevention and re-entry programs to reduce crime on a sustainable basis. Here in Tallahassee, the sheriff’s ALLinLEON initiative has focused on enforcement and has also hired community volunteers who regularly take vulnerable youth to places of worship, have activated neighborhood crime monitoring programs, and have conducted other activities to tackle neighborhoods that are permanent Are hotspots for violence. The effort is also intended to help connect those returning to the community from incarceration with education, professional skills and substance abuse treatment.

The U.S. Attorney General for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the country’s chief trial attorneys under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information on the United States District Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.