Gun Trafficker Sentenced to 10 years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing a Firearm

Gulfport, Miss – Damien S. Pinckney, 36, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to the maximum penalty of 120 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Dana Nichols with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He was also ordered to pay an $8,000 fine.

Pinckney and a co-conspirator offered to trade money and high-caliber firearms for drugs to take back to South Carolina from Gulfport, Mississippi. During the transaction in Gulfport, agents seized the money and firearms offered by Pinckney and his co-conspirator. Pinckney, who has prior felony drug convictions in South Carolina, was subsequently arrested and convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives along with the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Annette Williams.