Greenville, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Anthony Devon Myrick, age 25, of Greenville, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court in Greenville, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g). United States District Court Judge Bruce H. Hendricks of Charleston accepted the plea and will impose sentence after she has reviewed the presentence report, which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office. Myrick faces a statutory maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison.
Evidence presented by the government during the plea established that on Oct. 21, 2016, members of the Greenville Sheriff’s Office (GCSO), stopped to investigate a car stopped on the shoulder of the road. As a deputy approached the car, he observed two people in the back seat. As Myrick was exiting the vehicle, a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol fell from his pants.
Prior to that date, Myrick had previously been convicted of a crime for which he could have received more than a year in prison. Agents confirmed that he had not received a pardon.
Myrick was arrested federally as a part of “Operation Real-Time." The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the Upstate community.
In addition to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, the Anderson Police Department; the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services; the South Carolina Highway Patrol; United States Probation; the Department of Homeland Security; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office; and the United States Attorney’s Office.
Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of some 90 defendants and seizure of approximately 110 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons.
U.S. Attorney Beth Drake commended the partnership between the state and federal agencies that led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Attorney’s Office adopting the case, “We work best when we work together. This ‘real time’ identification of high risk offenders is smart policing, and we welcome the opportunity to work alongside our state chiefs and sheriffs in taking violent repeat offenders out of our communities."
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen in the Greenville U.S. Attorney’s Office. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
