United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

LUBBOCK MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 132 YEARS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE,
ON CARJACKING AND FIREARMS CHARGES

Prosecution Part of Project Safe Neighborhood Initiative

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Vernon Ray Gilmore, age 56, of Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced this morning by the Honorable Sam R. Cummings, United States District Judge, to 1587 months imprisonment. Judge Cummings recommended to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that Gilmore be incarcerated at the federal prison in Florence, Colorado, perhaps the BOP’s most secure prison for violent and dangerous prisoners.

U.S. Attorney Roper said, “I applaud Judge Cummings tough sentence of this hard core criminal; it is the longest sentence, other than life imprisonment, ever handed down in the Northern District of Texas. This defendant’s carjacking spree where he entered an elderly woman’s home, brandished a firearm and demanded her car; fired a shot at his next carjacking victim; commandeered a pickup truck forcing two elderly gentlemen and a small child at gunpoint to get out of the truck; terrorized innocent people and neighborhoods.” Roper continued, “Citizens should rest assured that this office will use every means possible to prosecute the use of firearms in violent crimes under Project Safe Neighborhood to ensure there are severe consequences for this kind of criminal activity and work to make their neighborhoods safe and crime-free.”

Gilmore pled guilty in January to an indictment that charged him with Possession of 10 stolen firearms, three counts of being a Convicted Felon in Possession of Firearms, two counts of Attempted Armed Car Jacking, one count of Armed Car Jacking, and three Counts of Using and Carrying a Firearm During and In Relation to a Crime of Violence. Gilmore will now be returned to state custoday where he faces a capital murder charge for the homicide of Rex McGuire, which is being prosecuted by the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office.

Gilmore was arrested in a Burleson, Texas, motel on April 24, 2005, the day following the crimes alleged in the indictment, by members of the United States Marshals Service and Burleson Police Department SWAT Teams, after being disarmed without incident.

United States Attorney Roper commended the United States Marshals Service in Lubbock and Fort Worth, and the Burleson Police Department for their professionalism in the fugitive investigation and apprehension of Gilmore. Roper also praised the U. S. Marshals Service in Lubbock, the lead investigative agency, which was assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Texas Department of Public Safety Motor Vehicle Theft Service, the Lubbock and Wolfforth Police Departments, and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office, for their efforts in a thorough investigation of these crimes.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dick Baker of the Lubbock, Texas, United States Attorney’s Office.

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