Reagan T. Fondren Acting United States Attorney for the Western District Of Tennessee | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee
A federal judge has sentenced Chapell Dain Cissell to ten years in federal prison for possession of multiple firearms and a significant amount of ammunition. The announcement was made by Joseph C. Murphy, Jr., Interim United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
The court heard evidence that in March 2021, deputies from the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of an assault in progress at Fast Eddie’s Bar in Dresden, Tennessee. Upon arrival, the deputies were informed by the victims that Cissell drove a black SUV into the bar's parking lot, wearing a bulletproof vest and wielding an assault rifle. He allegedly pointed the firearm at the victims, threatened their lives, and then fled the scene.
Cissell was later found by deputies sitting in a pickup truck at his home, still wearing a ballistic vest with a revolver's wooden handle visible. The deputies discovered three firearms and several hundred rounds of ammunition with Cissell or in his vehicle. Cissell admitted to possessing additional firearms in his residence, where three more firearms and over two thousand rounds of various caliber ammunition were recovered upon a search.
On April 11, 2025, United States District Court Judge J. Daniel Breen sentenced Cissell to the maximum term of 120 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after Cissell pled guilty to six counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In the federal system, there is no provision for parole.
The investigation of this case was carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, along with the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department.
Assistant United States Attorney Adam Davis prosecuted the case for the government.
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