Fort Lauderdale Resident Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm

            On July 17, 2018, Roosevelt Leon Cooper, 43, of Fort Lauderdale was sentenced to 5 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

            Benjamin G. Greenberg, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Ari C. Shapira, Special Agent in Charge, United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Office, and Rick Maglione, Chief, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, made the announcement.

            According to the court record, on November 10, 2017, Cooper sold a Colt .45 caliber revolver to a pawn shop in Fort Lauderdale for $300.  The revolver had been stolen on March 2, 2017, during a residential burglary in Port St. Lucie.  Cooper, a convicted felon, was prohibited from possessing the firearm. 

U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno sentenced Cooper to 60 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. 

            This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the ATF and Fort Lauderdale Police Department.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William T. Shockley.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.