Greenville, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Dominick Larenzo Johnson, age 30, of Greenville, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court in Greenville to felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). United States District Court Judge Timothy Cain, of Anderson, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office. Due to his prior history of felony convictions, Johnson faces a statutory mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum term of life.
Evidence presented by the government during the plea established that, on September 8, 2016, Johnson bailed out of his vehicle after fleeing an attempted traffic stop initiated by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO). After locating the abandoned vehicle and while canvassing the area looking for Johnson, GCSO deputies learned from eyewitnesses that Johnson had discarded an object in a dumpster as he ran by it. GCSO arrested Johnson shortly thereafter and retrieved that object that Johnson discarded-a backpack containing a loaded 9mm pistol.
Johnson 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, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of some 115 defendants and seizure of over 130 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, Firearms, and Explosives 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. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen in the Greenville U.S. Attorney’s Office is handling the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
