Former Charleston man sentenced to two and a half years for federal firearms charge

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A former Charleston resident who illegally possessed a firearm on November 30, 2012, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.  Blaine Jerome Ivery, 32, previously pleaded guilty in November of 2014 to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

At approximately 3 a.m. on November 30, 2012, members of the Charleston Police Department were parked outside of the Impulse night club on Capitol Street in downtown Charleston when they heard what they believed to be a gunshot.  Officers then watched Ivery run a red light in a car near the area where the gunfire sounded.  When officers stopped the car, Ivery tossed a loaded Hi-Point 9mm semiautomatic from the passenger side of the car onto the sidewalk.  Ivery was alone in the car. A spent 9 mm shell casing was also recovered from inside the vehicle.  Ivery had previously been convicted in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 2010 of wanton endangerment with a firearm.

The Charleston Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorneys Haley Bunn and Jennifer Rada Herrald handled the prosecution.

The case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a commitment of U.S. Attorney Goodwin’s office and other officials nationwide to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.