Charlotte Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Firearm Charge

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Gerell Michael Hart-Smith, a/k/a “Rell,” 22, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Evidence presented to the court showed that in the Spring of 2020, agents with Lancaster County Drug Task Force and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division were assisting Charlotte-Mecklenburg authorities by looking for Hart-Smith on outstanding state armed robbery warrants when they received information that he was staying with his girlfriend in her Lancaster, SC, apartment.

On the morning of March 20, 2020, agents went to the Lancaster apartment and knocked on the door, announcing that they were police and there to arrest Hart-Smith. The girlfriend confirmed that Hart-Smith was inside, as were her children. After approximately 13 minutes, Hart-Smith came out and was placed under arrest on the outstanding state warrants.

The girlfriend told authorities that Hart-Smith had a gun inside the apartment, which she turned over to them. She later admitted that he had been staying at the apartment with her for the past month and kept the gun inside the apartment. DNA analysis linked the loaded gun to Hart-Smith. 

Federal law prohibits Hart-Smith from possessing firearms and ammunition based on his October 2019 North Carolina conviction for larceny of a motor vehicle.  

Hart-Smith faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. He also faces up to 3 years of court-ordered supervision following his prison term. 

United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the guilty plea and will sentence Hart-Smith after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report prepared by the United States Probation Office.

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-Charlotte, Lancaster County Drug Task Force, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey D. Haynes is prosecuting the case.

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