Harrison County Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Possessing Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime

Gulfport, Miss. – Benjamin Joseph Butler, 39, of Gulfport, entered a guilty plea yesterday before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Kurt Thielhorn, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Butler will be sentenced by Judge Guirola on August 26, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.  He faces a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of life in prison. He also faces fines up to $250,000 and 5 years of supervised release.   

Between August and October 2019, Butler sold marijuana to an individual on four separate occasions.  Agents executed a search warrant on Butler’s residence where they found marijuana, LSD, THC oil, Psilocybin mushroom, methamphetamine, 17 firearms, multi rounds of ammunition and two silencers. 

The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Annette Williams.