"Operation Real Time": Greenville 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 Travius Isaiah Mayer, age 26, of Greenville, 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 June 20, 2016, members of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) responded to the area of N. Watson Road and Wade Hampton Boulevard to a call about a man with a gun. Upon arrival, GCSO learned from witnesses that Mayer was involved in a single car accident, exited his vehicle with a gun, and fired the gun as a witness attempted to follow him. GCSO seized a Glock .40 caliber pistol and a spent .40 caliber shell casing from the scene.
Mayer later told GCSO during an interview that he was the person driving the vehicle during the collision on N. Watson Rd. and further admitted he possessed the Glock pistol during the incident. Mayer stated he had just previously purchased the Glock pistol.
Mayer faces up to ten years in federal prison for the offense and remains in federal custody.
The case was investigated by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). First Assistant United States Attorney Lance Crick handled the case.
Mayer 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 Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, the Anderson City Police Department, 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, the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, 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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