Wilmington Man Sentenced to 84 Months For Gun Offense

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Wilmington man was sentenced today to 84 months in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to court documents, Marquan Kyemeke Gibbs, 30, was charged with one count of felon in possession of a firearm.  Gibbs pled guilty on November 17, 2020. 

On April 13, 2020, while on probation for multiple offenses – including a prior state conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon – Gibbs was in the back seat of a car that was subject to a traffic stop.  Gibbs failed to comply with law enforcement commands and was removed from the vehicle.  A subsequent search revealed a 9mm handgun in Gibbs’ pocket, with a 30-round high capacity magazine containing 27 rounds in a different pocket.  The gun was stolen from a home on Wrightsville Avenue in Wilmington during an August 8, 2019 breaking and entering.  On October 1, 2019, a very similar breaking and entering of another Wrightsville Avenue home resulted in four other guns being stolen, one of which was later recovered from a juvenile.  Investigators obtained fingerprints from the scene of the October 1, 2019 breaking and entering that matched Gibbs.  

Robert J. Higdon, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle. The North Carolina 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Wilmington Police Department, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Stephany  prosecuted the case.

This case is also 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 make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina implements the PSN Program through its Take Back North Carolina Initiative. 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.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 7:20-CR-00096-BO.

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