Greenville, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Remario Revonte Austin, age 37, of Greenville, was convicted following a jury trial in federal court for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Evidence presented by the Government during the trial established that on March 22, 2017, a Greenville Police Department Officer stopped the car Austin was driving for a traffic violation. During the stop, the officer located a suspected controlled substance in Austin’s pocket and then conducted a search of the car Austin was driving. Recovered from the glove compartment was a loaded.40 caliber pistol. Laboratory analysis found that Austin’s DNA was located on the trigger of the firearm.
Federal law prohibits Austin from possessing firearms and ammunition due to prior felony convictions, including a prior federal conviction for drug conspiracy and prior state convictions for unlawful possession of a pistol, possession of a pistol with an obliterated serial number, possession of a weapon, assault and battery, and criminal domestic violence.
United States District Judge Donald C. Coggins, Jr., of Spartanburg presided over the trial and will sentence Austin after receiving and reviewing a pre-sentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the Greenville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), 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 the community 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. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen of the Greenville office is prosecuting the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
