“Real Time”: Spartanburg Man Sentenced in Federal Court for Possessing Firearms and Ammunition

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated that Fred Deshawn Edwards, age 22, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison today by United States District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks. Edwards previously entered a guilty plea in federal court on February 6, 2017, for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a prohibited person. 

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that on November 1, 2016, during a search of his residence by law enforcement, officers recovered four firearms and ammunition. Due to his prior criminal history and record, Edwards is legally prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Edwards 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 possess firearms in the Upstate community. 

In addition to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, 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, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 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 115 defendants and seizure of over 130 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons.

U.S. Attorney Drake commended the partnership between the state and federal agencies that led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 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 Spartanburg Police Department, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen in the Greenville U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.

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