Tampa, Florida, USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara has sentenced Stevie Cavazos (24, Hillsborough County) to 10 years in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The sentence was the highest permissible under the relevant statute. The court also ordered Cavazos to forfeit the firearms and ammunition that he had possessed, which are traceable to proceeds of the offense. Cavazos pleaded guilty on June 8, 2018.
According to court documents and testimony during the sentencing hearing, Cavazos threatened two women with a sawed-off shotgun.
While interviewing the victims, law enforcement officers heard shots coming from Cavazos’s home. They located Cavazos at his home along with the sawed-off shotgun and another rifle. At the time, Cavazos had previous convictions for robbery and battery on a law enforcement officer and, was therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm by federal law.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Hillsborough County Sherriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregory T. Nolan.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In October 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to develop districtwide crime reduction strategies, incorporating the lessons learned since the program’s inception in 2001. In the Middle District of Florida, U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez coordinates PSN efforts in cooperation with various federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.
ATF, along with its law enforcement partners, are committed to ensuring that our communities are safe, and that those that commit violent crimes such as these will be held accountable. ATF works closely with members of the firearms industry to curb the criminal acquisition and misuse of firearms. For more information about ATF, go to www.atf.gov.
10 years? So he’ll be taking that time honing his criminal skills, while burdening taxpayers with his imprisonment.
Make his release contingent upon completing his High School education. Make it so he needs to learn a job skill
before he is available for parole. Charge him for every service he gets while staying in prison-housing, clothing,
food, heat, air-conditioning. ALL THE THINGS HIS VICTIMS PAY FOR, EVERY DAY, AS HE SKATES AWAY,
being provided all his needs for FREE.
Once it SUCKS being a criminal, people will do something else.
While I have no great love for ATF, I believe mandiatory prison sentences for criminal use of firearms, irresponsible handling of firearms and negligent storage of firearms is the right direction and is truly the Real Gun Control.
@Ronald Nuxon, mandatory prison sentence for negligent storage? What the hell is negligent storage? And since when are mandatory sentences appropriate for civil issues?
So at 24, already with a long history of convictions, and now come more. Why do we not recognize that this individual does not want to be part of our society and permanently remove him from it? How many victims, how many more convictions, do we need before we recognize this of someone? Society must come to terms with the fact that we have people in it that do not want to abide by its rules, and we need to get rid of them, for the good of all of us!
Who got rid of “o”boy’s atf and where are they smuggling guns now?
didn’t you hear? They just got caught stealing guns from UPS in Memphis and running them to Chicago. (Hope I’m just kidding . . . . !)
ATF: Protecting the Public, Serving Our Nation by stomping small pets to death and selling guns to Mexican drug cartels one gun at a time. Go sell crazy somewhere else, we’re full up around here!