SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Shreveport man was sentenced to 105 months in prison for possessing firearms and ammunition after being convicted of multiple felonies.
Donzell Joseph Samuels Jr., 36, of Shreveport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter on one count of possessing a firearm and ammunition after being convicted of a felony. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at the Dec. 15, 2014 guilty plea, Samuels was on probation when law enforcement received information that he had a firearm at his residence. The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office contacted Samuels at home in October of 2013 and found him in possession of a.380 caliber pistol, a.357 caliber revolver, two 9 mm pistols, and a 16 gauge shotgun. They also found ammunition with each firearm, an additional 16 rounds of 9 mm ammunition in an extended magazine, and.22 caliber ammunition.
Samuels has three prior felony convictions in the First Judicial District Court for Caddo Parish. In 2008 he was convicted of possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, cocaine, and was sentenced to three and a half years at hard labor. In 2001 he was convicted of accessory after the fact - manslaughter and criminal conspiracy to commit a simple burglary, and was sentenced to four years at hard labor. In 2000 he was convicted of simple burglary and was sentenced to two years at hard labor, suspended with one year of supervised probation.
The ATF and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Gillespie Jr. prosecuted the case as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which is a Department of Justice initiative designed to prosecute those who are prohibited from possessing firearms and those who use firearms to commit violent crimes.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
