Press Releases
CONVICTED ARMED CAREER CRIMINAL
SENTENCED TO 235 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
October 26, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gulfport, Miss - Ray Anthony Chaney of Moss Point, Mississippi, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to serve 235 months (19.5 years) in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced.
On July 17, 2007, after a jury trial in Gulfport, Chaney was found guilty on all three counts of a federal indictment in which he was charged with stealing a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer, concealing the stolen firearm, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Because of Chaney’s numerous previous felony convictions, which included violent felonies and serious drug offenses, he was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which mandates a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in addition to any other sentence imposed.
The evidence presented by the government during trial showed that on July 7, 2005, Chaney stole a Kel-Tec rifle from the Guns & Ammo store located on Main Street in Moss Point, Mississippi. Chaney was caught stealing the firearm on the store’s video surveillance system.
Assistant United States Attorneys Ruth Morgan and Scott Gilbert prosecuted the case for the United States. The investigating agency was the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Gulfport, Mississippi, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Mobile, Alabama.
