Harrison County Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison on Gun Charge

Gulfport, Miss – Benjamin Joseph Butler, 39, of Gulfport, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. to 60 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Kurt H. Thielhorn, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Butler was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

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

Butler was charged in a federal criminal indictment and he pled guilty before Judge Guirola on June 4, 2020.

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