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Press Release

100-month Sentence For Convicted Felon Who Had 9 Firearms, Marijuana

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio

CONTACT: Fred Alverson
Public Affairs Officer

COLUMBUS – David P. Crail, 35, of Dublin, Ohio was sentenced to 100 months in prison for being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, growing marijuana at a house in Dublin, Ohio and making a false statement in an application for a U.S. passport.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Columbus Police Chief Kimberly Jacobs and Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott announced the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.

According to court documents, members of the FBI Columbus Metropolitan Violent Crimes Task Force tracked Crail to 3256 Rothschild Court in Dublin on April 27, 2010 after they received information from the FBI in Michigan that Crail was wanted there. Crail was living in Dublin at the time under the name of Raymond Howard Lyons. Crail had applied for a passport using fraudulent documents with that name.

When task force officers searched the house, they found an indoor marijuana growing operation and seized 130 marijuana plants. Investigators also found three handguns, five rifles and a shotgun located in Crail’s bedroom. Task force officers arrested Crail.

Crail pleaded guilty on October 19, 2012 to one count of manufacturing marijuana, one count of illegally transporting firearms, and one count of making a false application on a passport. He was sentenced to 100 months on each count with the sentences to run concurrently. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Crail was convicted in February 2000 on state charges of assault with a weapon in Michigan. Federal law prohibits convicted felons from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition.

“The defendant committed three separate offenses while on the run from felony charges in Michigan,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bosley wrote in a memorandum filed with the court prior to sentencing. “He also used this name to buy firearms and apply for a United States Passport. The defendant acquired the numerous firearms in his residence after being convicted of a felony and some of them while on the run for new felony charges.”

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by members of the task force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bosley, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the U.S. government.

Updated July 23, 2015