Oakland, California - James Robert Lewis was sentenced to 76 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for violating the terms of his supervised release, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  The sentence was handed down today by the Honorable Phyllis J. Hamilton, Chief United States District Judge.

Lewis, 35, of Richmond, California, pleaded guilty to the felon-in-possession charge on December 14, 2018.  In pleading guilty, Lewis admitted that on August 26, 2018, he was a convicted felon and was not eligible to possess a firearm.  He fled from a Richmond police officer and discarded a loaded semiautomatic handgun into the bed of a pickup truck.  The firearm had an extended magazine, with a thirty-round capacity, and was loaded with 27 rounds of ammunition.  Lewis further acknowledged that on August 26, 2018, he was on supervised release pursuant to a conviction in 2013 for a separate firearms offense. 

On September 27, 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Lewis, charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).  Lewis pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted that the crime was also a violation of the terms of his supervised release.  Chief Judge Hamilton ordered the defendant to serve a combined 76 months for both violations.

In addition to the prison term, Chief Judge Hamilton ordered Lewis to serve a three-year term of supervised release to begin at the conclusion of his prison term.  

Assistant United States Attorney Katherine Lloyd-Lovett is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Elyza Delgado.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Richmond Police Department.