New Orleans Man Sentenced for Firearm Offense

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – TERRANCE RICHARDS, age 38, a resident of New Orleans, was sentenced on January 4, 2024 by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to 100 months incarceration after previously pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Judge Barbier also ordered that RICHARDS be placed on supervised release for three (3) years following release from imprisonment and pay a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

According to court documents, on August 22, 2020, New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers responded to a report of shots fired in a New Orleans neighborhood. NOPD, in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, determined through investigation that RICHARDS was one of the shooters. RICHARDS’s prior felony convictions for attempted distribution of cocaine (2010), possession of cocaine (2010), felon in possession of a firearm (2011) and distribution of cocaine (2012), prohibited his possession of a firearm. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the New Orleans Police Department. This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Trummel of the Violent Crime Unit.