CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Charleston man pleaded guilty today to illegally possessing a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin. Travis Devon Woods, 26, pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to being a felon in possession of a firearm. On Dec. 16, 2013, on the West Side of Charleston, members of law enforcement approached Woods to discuss an incident that had occurred nearby. When officers asked Woods to stop to speak with them, Woods fled on foot down a nearby alley. Subsequent to stopping Woods after a brief chase, law enforcement located a loaded Taurus.45 caliber semiautomatic pistol in the alley where Woods fled. The West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory matched Woods’s DNA to DNA recovered from the weapon.
Woods had previously been convicted in Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 2009 of nighttime burglary and first degree robbery. He faces up to ten years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 11, 2015.
United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston conducted today's plea hearing.
The Charleston Police Department, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald is in charge of the prosecution.
The case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a commitment of U.S. Attorney Goodwin’s office and other officials nationwide to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
