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Convicted Felon Exiled to 10 Years for Illegal Possession and Transportation of Stolen Guns

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2009

Baltimore, Maryland - Chief U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg sentenced Arthur Maurice Hicks, age 26, of North Carolina, today to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm and transporting stolen guns, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to Hicks’ plea agreement, on January 9, 2009, a Maryland Transportation Authority Police Officer was patrolling in an unmarked K-9 patrol vehicle on Interstate Highway 95 North in Baltimore County, Maryland and stopped a red Impala that was speeding. Hicks was in the rear passenger seat of the car. The officer interviewed the driver, Hicks and another passenger. Their accounts of where they were traveling and the purpose of their trip differed.

The officer detected the scent of burning marijuana coming from the car. The officer retrieved a canine trained to detect the odor of narcotics from his vehicle and conducted an exterior scan of the Impala. The canine gave a positive alert for the presence of the odor of narcotics at the rear passenger door of the Impala. The officer asked Hicks and the other passenger to exit the car and conducted a search of the vehicle. From a compartment located under a rear passenger seat the officer recovered: two loaded Springfield Armory 9mm semi-automatic pistols; two Taurus .45-410 cal revolvers, Model “The Judge”; one Smith & Wesson .357 cal revolver; one Taurus and two Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolvers; two Taurus .44 cal revolvers; and one Taurus .454 cal revolver, Model “Raging Bull.” Officers later determined that these 11 firearms were stolen on January 8, 2009, from Eastern Outfitters, a Federal Firearms Licensee located in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Hicks admitted that he knew the firearms were stolen.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Cheryl L. Crumpton, who is prosecuting the case.

 

 

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