Oklahoma City Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Firearms and Ammunition After a Felony Conviction

OKLAHOMA CITY – LERAY EUGENE RICHARDS, 30, of Oklahoma City, pleaded guilty today to possession of firearms and ammunition by a prohibited person, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to court records, on the evening of October 27, 2017, the Midwest City Police Department received a report of a fight involving a gun at a Midwest City apartment complex.  Upon arrival, Midwest City Police Officers assisted security guards from the complex in detaining Richards.  Richards admitted during his guilty plea hearing today that he had been in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

Additionally, Richards admitted that when he was arrested in another incident on the night of September 28, 2016, by the Oklahoma City Police Department, he possessed a .22 long rifle caliber pistol and approximately 50 rounds of ammunition.

Richards’s possession of the firearms and ammunition was illegal because he had previously been convicted of a felony.  He was indicted federally on April 17, 2018.

Today Richards pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange to two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition by a prohibited person.  At sentencing, he faces up to ten years in prison on each count, in addition to a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

Richards remains in custody and will be sentenced in approximately 90 days.

This case is the result of investigation efforts by the Midwest City Police Department, the Oklahoma City Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and prosecution efforts by the Domestic Violence Unit of the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Patterson is prosecuting the case in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  It is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice program to reduce violent crime.  In October 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhoods and directed U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop crime-reduction strategies that incorporate lessons federal law enforcement has learned since the program’s launch in 2001.

Reference is made to court filings for further information.