HUNTINGTON, WV—United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that a convicted felon originally from Detroit, Michigan pleaded guilty today in federal court in Huntington to unlawfully possessing a firearm. Joseph Lovell Cook, 22, entered a guilty plea to possessing an SKS semi-automatic assault rifle on July 3, 2014, in Barboursville, West Virginia. Cook was prohibited from possessing the firearm because of a 2010 assault with a dangerous weapon conviction in Michigan and a 2012 drug trafficking conviction in Cabell County, West Virginia.

Cook faces up to ten years in federal prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 10, 2015.

The FBI Drug Task Force and the DEA Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Greg McVey and Jennifer Rada Herrald are in charge of the prosecution.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.