Operation "Real Time": Anderson Man Enters Guilty Plea in Federal Court on Gun Charges

Contact Person: Lance Crick (864) 282-2100

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Timothy Garrett Holmes, age 22, of Anderson, pled guilty today in federal court in Greenville, to felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(1).  United States District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks, of Charleston, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after she has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
 
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing this morning established that on January 10, 2017, at approximately 5:30pm, Anderson City Police officers were attempting to conduct a traffic stop when they observed Holmes, the front seat passenger of the vehicle, open the passenger door while the vehicle was moving and discard an item which was later determined to be a blue glass pipe with methamphetamine residue. 

Once the vehicle stopped, officers observed Holmes remove an item from his person and throw it towards the driver as they approached.  Officers were then able to observe in plain view a handgun in the floorboard at the driver’s feet. Holmes and the driver were then removed from the vehicle while officers secured the firearm, a loaded Glock .40 caliber pistol with an extended magazine and a round in the chamber.  Officers also located a backpack containing additional ammunition and two pipe bombs in the vehicle. 

After his arrest, Holmes, who was on state probation at the time, was interviewed at the Anderson Police Department by law enforcement.  Holmes told the officers that he bought the gun off the streets for protection and that he knew he was not able to possess a firearm because he was a felon, which is why he took the firearm off and tossed it into the floor board at the driver’s feet. Regarding the pipe bombs, Holmes told the officers that they were given to him for protection.  ATF later removed and detonated the pipe bombs. 

Holmes faces up to ten years in federal prison for the offense and remains in federal custody. 

The case was investigated by the Anderson City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).  First Assistant United States Attorney Lance Crick handled the case. 

Holmes was arrested federally as a part of “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 the Anderson Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Attorney’s Office. 

Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of some 97 defendants and seizure of approximately 130 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons. 

U.S. Attorney Beth Drake commended the partnership between the local, 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.”

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