Owner of S&D Gun and Knife Show Pleads Guilty to Illegally Possessing Firearms and Ammunition as a Felon

NEW BERN – United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, before United States Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones, Jr., SHERWOOD WATSON CARAWAY, 62, of Merritt, North Carolina pled guilty to illegally possessing firearms and ammunition while being a felon.

During the defendant’s guilty plea hearing, the Government summarized the evidence supporting the defendant’s guilty plea.  CARAWAY had been convicted in federal court in 2005 of unlawfully dealing in firearms without a license.  Despite his status as a felon, CARAWAY continued to possess firearms and ammunition at his house.  On September 2, 2017, officers with the Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office obtained a search warrant for CARAWAY’s residence and discovered nine firearms and dozens of boxes of ammunition.  Another 33 firearms were seized from CARAWAY’s daughter’s house nearby.

This case is part of the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.  For more information about this initiative click here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc

At sentencing, the defendant faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment and up to $250,000 in fines.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF).  Assistant United States Attorney Laura S. Howard prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.