Four Cherokee County Men Sentenced This Week on Federal Weapons Charges
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Cherokee County man to more than five years in prison on firearms charges, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, ATF Resident Agent in Charge David Hyche and Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver.
U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced CHARLES DAVID BLALOCK, 28, of Leesburg, to five years and three months in prison for unlawfully possessing two Marlin 12-gauge short-barrel shotguns, and for possessing those weapons as a convicted felon in November 2009.
Blalock is the last of four Cherokee County men to be sentenced this week in federal court following their indictments in December on either weapons or weapons and drug charges. Judge Bowdre also sentenced JUSTIN BRYANT, 25, BRANDON WHITE, 31, and EDWARD RAY LAMAR, 43, all of Gaylesville.
The judge sentenced the other men as follows:
• Bryant – six years and seven months in prison for possessing firearms and explosives as a convicted felon in November 2009.
• White – four years and three months in prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon in 2009 and 2010, and for distributing methamphetamine in April 2009.
• Lamar – three years and five months in prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon in May 2010, and for distributing methamphetamine in July 2009.
“Thanks to the cooperative work of federal, state and local law enforcement in this case, four dangerous men have been taken off the streets of Cherokee County and returned to prison,” Vance said.
“These men were all involved in the Southern Brotherhood prison gang while serving time, and carried it forward as a criminal enterprise upon their release from prison,” Hyche said. “This heavily armed group of felons, selling drugs and firearms and possessing explosives, posed a threat to the citizens of Alabama. Once again the partnership between ATF and Alabama law enforcement yields positive results,” he said.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Alabama Bureau of Investigation Bomb Squad and Leesburg and Cedar Bluff Police Departments conducted the investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the cases.
