Illegal possession of gun sends Billings man to prison

BILLINGS—Jermaine David Richardson, a Billings resident who admitted possessing a semi-automatic pistol while having been convicted of a felony, was sentenced today to four years in prison and three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Richardson, 25, pleaded guilty in April to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

U.S District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

Evidence presented by the prosecution in court records said that in January 2018, a Billings Police Department detective received a video showing Richardson with what appeared to be a black pistol in his hand while in the hallway of a Billings hotel. Richardson refers to the pistol as a Hi-Point. Five months later, police officers saw a stolen vehicle parked in front of Richardson’s residence and were aware that Richardson was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of a felony conviction in Illinois. Police officers ultimately executed a search warrant on Richardson’s residence and seized a .45-caliber semi-automatic Hi-Point pistol from his bedroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McCarthy prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is 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.

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