Recently Released Felon Sentenced for Possessing Firearm

RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond man was sentenced today to 5 years in prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

According to court documents, on July 12, 2022, a Richmond Police Department officer saw a car driving on the wrong side of the road. Octavius Bentley, 37, got out of the car, removed a firearm from his waistband and placed it on the driver’s seat, and hopped the fence. The officer recovered the loaded gun from the car and found part of Bentley’s ankle monitoring equipment in the passenger’s seat. Six months before, Bentley had been released from prison after serving 18 years for a violent rape. Bentley had been placed on location monitoring as a condition of his state probation. In the trunk of the car, officers found over 6 ounces of marijuana, baggies, a digital scale, a drug ledger, and a cell phone.

Officers could not locate Bentley on July 12. Within days, he fled to Vermont, and, in August, was arrested on a federal warrant for flight to avoid prosecution.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Craig Kailimai, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; Shannon Saylor, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Rick Edwards, Acting Chief of Richmond Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Hannah M. Lauck.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Wright and Kenneth Simon prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:22-cr-157.