Eaton County Man, Christopher Todd Ritchey, To Serve 15 Years As Armed Career Criminal

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Jr., announced today that Christopher Todd Ritchey, 31, of Bellevue, was sentenced on Friday to 180 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker. Ritchey pled guilty to being a felon in possession in July, after he was caught with a gun in his residence while on parole in January. The Armed Career Criminal Act mandated a sentence of at least 15 years because Ritchey had previously been convicted seven times of breaking and entering under Michigan law.

          "Today we send a message to recidivist felons that they simply cannot possess firearms under the law," U.S. Attorney Miles said. "When armed career criminals do not heed that warning, they will be prosecuted, and the sentence will be strict, as the law requires."

          The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives led the investigation, with assistance from the Michigan Department of Corrections, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Michigan State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin M. Presant prosecuted the case.

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