December 18, 2015

Catahoula Parish Man Sentenced to 117 Months in Prison for Explosives, Firearms Possession Charges

ALEXANDRIA, LA—United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Catahoula Parish man was sentenced to 117 months in prison for possessing unregistered explosives and illegally possessing firearms.

Bill W. Womack, 56, of Manifest, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of possessing unregistered explosive devices and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, fined $50,000 and forfeited the weapons seized during the arrest. According to information presented at the September 24, 2015 guilty plea, agents seized machine guns, destructive devices, silencers, a short barreled rifle and more than a kilogram of marijuana. The weapons were not registered as required by law. In addition, law enforcement destroyed improvised explosive devices at the scene over a five-day period.

The ATF, FBI, Louisiana State Police and Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth D. Reeg and William J. Flanagan prosecuted the case.