Felon Sentenced to 42 Months for Firearm and Drug Possession

ANCHORAGE—U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that Mack Rashad Wood, a resident of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to 22 months in prison for his conviction of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. In a related case charged by the state of Alaska, Wood received an additional 20 months in jail for possession of an illegal controlled substance.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess imposed the sentence on Wood, 23.

According to Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin White Bradley, who prosecuted the case, Wood fired a 9mm semiautomatic pistol while riding in the back seat of a vehicle in Mountain View on January 5, 2011. At the time, Wood had a 2010 felony conviction for vehicle theft. Wood also had crack cocaine in his possession at the time of his arrest.

In fashioning a sentence, the court noted the serious nature of Wood’s crime, along with a need to protect the public and to deter similar criminal behavior. As the federal firearm charge was related to Wood’s state of Alaska conviction for possession of crack cocaine, Wood received concurrent credit for the 20 months already served on the state case. With a sentence of 22 months to serve on the federal case, the total period of incarceration for possession of both the firearm and the crack cocaine amounts to 42 months.

Ms. Loeffler commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Anchorage Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Wood. SAUSA Bradley is a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who is funded by the municipality of Anchorage for the purpose of prosecuting gang-related and violent crime cases.