Carlsbad Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Unlawful Possession of Firearms and Ammunition

ALBUQUERQUE – Larry Allen Jennings, 50, of Carlsbad, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 46 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

Jennings was arrested on April 17, 2014, on a criminal complaint alleging that he unlawfully possessed drug paraphernalia, firearms and ammunition on Jan. 17, 2014, in Eddy County, N.M.  Jennings subsequently was indicted on July 16, 2014, and charged with unlawfully possessing ten firearms and approximately 1,177rounds of ammunition.  At the time, Jennings was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he previously had been convicted of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, aggravated assault, and bribery of a witness.

On Oct. 23, 2014, Jennings entered a guilty plea to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Y. Armijo of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

The Pecos Valley Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Carlsbad Police Department and Artesia Police Department and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force.  The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.  HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.