Texarkana Man Sentenced To Over 4 Years In Federal Prison For Firearms Violation

El Dorado, Arkansas - Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Deadrick Lamar Tatum (aka “Toda”), age 26, of Texarkana, was sentenced yesterday, to 54 months in federal prison on one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. The Honorable Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in El Dorado.

According to court records, On November 8, 2016, officers with the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department ("TAPD") were on routine patrol in Texarkana, Arkansas. A TAPD officer noticed a vehicle did not have a license tag and proceeded to stop the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was Tatum. After being asked for his license and registration, Tatum removed something white from his vehicle, against the instructions of the officer. Tatum then ran away from the officer and a foot pursuit began. While chasing Tatum through the backyards of several Texarkana Arkansas residences, the officer saw Tatum attempting to stuff an item under a shed in one of the backyards. The officer then attempted to arrest Tatum, but he fled on foot once again. After back up arrived, several officers were able to locate and arrest Tatum. TAPD officers backtracked Tatum’s flight path and attempted to locate what was concealed under the shed that Tatum stopped at. They found a Kel-Tec, 9mm pistol, wrapped in a white Cleveland Cavaliers hat. After Tatum’s arrest, FBI Agents interviewed Tatum and spoke to him concerning the firearm seized during his arrest. After initially denying any knowledge of the firearm, Tatum later admitted that he had the firearm for protection and had possessed it since January. He also described the firearm as a Kel-Tec. At the time that Tatum possessed the above referenced firearm, he had been convicted of a felony drug offense in federal court.

Tatum was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2016 and entered a guilty plea in April 2017.

This case was investigated by Texarkana and the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney Ben Wulff prosecuted the case for the United States.