Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Ezekiel Jahpari Patterson, age 21, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Evidence presented in court established that on Jan. 11, 2018, a deputy with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office stopped the driver of a 1998 Buick near Evans Drive for a traffic violation. Patterson was seated in the backseat of the car. As the deputy approached the car, he observed Patterson reaching under the seat and asked Patterson to step out of the car. The deputy searched Patterson and found two loaded firearms hidden in Patterson’s clothing. One of the firearms was stolen.
Federal law prohibits Patterson from possessing any firearm because of his 2017 felony conviction for assault and battery first degree. Patterson was on probation when he was found with the two firearms.
Senior United States District Judge Cameron M. Currie, of Columbia, accepted Patterson’s guilty plea and sentenced him to 18 months in federal prison followed by two years of court-ordered supervision. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Taylor prosecuted the case.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) alongside officers with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in our communities and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally-based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
