JACKSON, MS—Delace Johnson, 27, of Jackson, entered a guilty plea on November 19, 2015, before Senior U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee, to possession of a firearm after having previously been convicted of a felony, U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis announced.

On July 31, 2015, officers with the Mississippi Department of Corrections searched a house located on Oak Grove Lane in Jackson and located a shotgun which Johnson admitted he purchased off-the-street shortly after having been released from prison. His previous felony conviction was in Hinds County Circuit Court for house burglary.

Johnson was indicted as part of the Jackson Violent Crime Initiative, a joint initiative between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies worked together to reduce violent crime in the city of Jackson and to remove violent offenders from the streets of this community. Jackson Violent Crime Initiative partners include the Jackson Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Secret Service.

Johnson will be sentenced on February 4, 2016, and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of ATF and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Lemon.