Armed Career Criminal Sentenced to 200 Months in Prison

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TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA–Edgar Carl Darling, III, 45, of Tallahassee, was sentenced to 200 months in prison based upon his guilty plea to a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  United States District Judge Mark Walker also sentenced Darling to serve a term of five years supervised release.  This sentence was announced today by Pamela C. Marsh, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
On February 11, 2014, residents at a Levy Avenue apartment complex called the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) to report a man with a handgun involved in an argument at the complex.  By the time TPD officers arrived, the man had fled in a car.  A TPD officer spotted the vehicle at the corner of Levy and Lake Bradford Road, attempting to make a left-hand turn from the right-hand lane, and discovered Darling in that car.
After the female driver and Darling were removed from the vehicle, officers found a loaded Hi-Point nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol in the front console.  The woman driver stated that Darling got the pistol after he was confronted by persons seeking to collect a $500 drug debt. 
The Federal Armed Career Criminal statute provides a mandatory minimum fifteen year term for persons arrested with firearms after three or more convictions for violent felony and/or serious drug offenses.  Darling had multiple prior convictions that qualified under this statute, and thus he was sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal.

United States Attorney Pamela C. Marsh credited the successful prosecution to the joint efforts of the Tallahassee Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael T. Simpson prosecuted this case.