Essex County Man Convicted of Unlawful Possession of Ammunition by a Convicted Felon

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County man was convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition, Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Lamar McCullough, 30, of Essex County, was convicted by a federal jury on June 7, 2024, of unlawful possession of ammunition by a convicted felon following a trial before U.S. District Judge Katherine Hayden in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On March 5, 2021, members of the Newark Police Department responded to a report of a shooting victim at University Hospital. Surveillance video recorded at 7:22 p.m. showed McCullough shoot a victim four times at close range in the middle of Isabella Avenue in Newark. Four 9-millimeter shell casings were recovered from the area where McCullough discharged the firearm. 

The felon in possession of ammunition charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Sentencing has been scheduled for October 8, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited Newark Police Department, under the direction of Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II, and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation.

The investigation was conducted as part of the Newark Violent Crime Initiative (VCI). The Newark VCI was formed in August 2017 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, and the City of Newark’s Department of Public Safety for the purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Newark. As part of this partnership, federal, state, county, and city agencies collaborate and pool resources to prosecute violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community. The VCI is composed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the ATF, the DEA New Jersey Division, the U.S. Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, the Newark Department of Public Safety, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, Union County Jail, New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center, New Jersey Department of Corrections, the East Orange Police Department, and the Irvington Police Department.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Ecker of the Healthcare Fraud Unit and Katherine Calle of the Special Prosecutions Division.