Operation “REAL-TIME”: Anderson Man Enters Guilty Plea in Federal Court on Firearms and Ammunition Charges

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Elijah Muhammad Davis-Barton, age 23, of Anderson, pled guilty in federal court in Greenville to felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. United States District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks accepted the plea and will impose sentence after United States Probation prepares a pre-sentence report. Davis-Barton faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that on March 28, 2017, a deputy with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) conducted a traffic stop on a car driven by Davis-Barton. During the stop, after Davis-Barton told law enforcement that there was a firearm in the center console of the vehicle, ACSO recovered a loaded Lorcin .380 caliber pistol with an unidentifiable serial number from the center console. Davis-Barton, prior to his possession of the loaded pistol, had previously been convicted of crimes prohibiting him from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Davis-Barton’s case was expedited for federal prosecution pursuant to “Operation Real-Time.”  The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the Upstate community.  In addition to ACSO and ATF, Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, the Anderson Police Department, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, United States Probation, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, DEA, , the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, 10th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of over 120 defendants and seizure of over 160 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons.

U.S. Attorney Beth Drake commended the partnership between the state and federal agencies that led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Attorney’s Office adopting the case, “We work best when we work together.  This ‘real time’ identification of high risk offenders is smart policing, and we welcome the opportunity to work alongside our state chiefs and sheriffs in taking violent repeat offenders out of our communities.”

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office along with the ATF investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen is prosecuting the case.
 

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