Geoff Billips Sentenced to Serve 104 Months in Prison for Armed Robbery

GREENEVILLE, TN—Geoff Billips, 36, of Bluff City, Tennessee, was sentenced on August 28, 2013, to serve 104 months in prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge. Upon his release from prison, Billips will be subject to probation under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for five years.

Billips pleaded guilty in April 2013 to the armed robbery of the Check Into Cash business on Volunteer Parkway in Bristol, Tennessee, and to brandishing a firearm in furtherance of the robbery. Because he brandished a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, he faced a minimum 84-month sentence up to life in prison for the firearm charge alone.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the joint investigation which led to the indictment and subsequent conviction of Billips include the Bristol Police Department; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Gregory Bowman represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a comprehensive national strategy that creates local partnerships with law enforcement agencies to effectively enforce existing gun laws. It provides more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences. PSN gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.