St. Louis Man Pleads Guilty To Firearm Offense And Intent To Distribute Heroin

On September 18, 2013, Corvin N. Howard, a 29-year old St. Louis, Missouri, man pled guilty in federal district court, in East St. Louis, to felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Howard is scheduled for sentencing on January 24, 2014, at which time he faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years’ in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the firearm offense and 20 years’ in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000 for intent to distribute a controlled substance, not more than 3 years’ of supervised release after his prison term, and a mandatory special assessment of $100. Howard agreed to forfeit the firearm.

Facts presented in court revealed that on June 8, 2013, police officers in Brooklyn, Illinois, pulled Howard over for a road hazard object observed hanging from underneath his vehicle. While directing Howard to remove the item during the traffic stop, an officer noticed a gun in plain view wedged between the console and the driver’s seat. Howard was arrested and a search of the vehicle recovered a fully loaded 10mm caliber pistol, as well as two bags containing 5.6 grams of heroin. Prior to this incident, Howard had been convicted of a drug distribution felony that was punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than one year.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Brooklyn Police Department. This case is assigned to Special Assistant United States Attorney Neal C. Hong for prosecution.