Gulfport Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Firearms Offense

Gulfport, Miss. – A Gulfport man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Brad L. Byerley, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on August 8, 2021, Decorie Deshun Bates, 33, was arrested after the Gulfport Police Department responded to a domestic disturbance 911 call.  Prior to officers’ arrival at the scene, Bates left the residence on foot.  However, the caller took photos of Bates while he was leaving the residence. The photos depicted Bates carrying a firearm.

Bates was apprehended nearby unarmed.  However, a firearm, matching the firearm depicted in the photographs, was found along his suspected route of travel.  After being taken into custody, Bates admitted to purchasing the firearm approximately two weeks before the incident.  Bates had prior felony convictions for Aggravated Assault, Credit Card Fraud, and Burglary of a Dwelling.

Bates was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm by a federal jury on January 20, 2022.

At sentencing, the court enhanced Bates’s sentence for his attempts to obstruct justice by asking the 911 caller to lie about his possession of the firearm.  The court also varied upwards based upon Bates’s criminal history, and because he was released from parole the day before he committed the offense. The 120 months sentence was the statutory maximum sentence that the court could have imposed.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Gulfport Police Department investigated the case with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Buckner and John Meynardie prosecuted the case.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.