What's New
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Acting U.S. Attorney William T. Stetzer announced today that Travis Shaqwann Fair, 31, of Asheville, has pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.Fair’s trial was scheduled to begin today before Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger. Just prior to jury selection, Fair elected instead to enter a guilty plea which was accepted by Judge Reidinger.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The final of 19 defendants to be convicted in a Columbus gang-related racketeering conspiracy pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for his part in furthering the violence of the local Crips gang. The racketeering conspiracy first charged in 2018 includes five murders, at least 26 attempted murders, and other violent and drug-trafficking crimes.
INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis man, Jalen Howard, 29 was indicted in August of 2019 for felon in possession of a firearm. In May 2021, a jury found Howard guilty, and he was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his crime.
SHREVEPORT, La. – Thomas Shane Benefield, 46, of Bossier City, Louisiana, and Antravion D. Johnson, 24, of Shreveport, Louisiana, have each been sentenced in unrelated cases by Chief United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr., announced Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A federal grand jury has charged five Columbus men with crimes related to three murders. An alleged narcotics conspiracy in 2018 to rob a local marijuana dealer of drugs and cash in his residence allegedly resulted in the shooting death of another resident within that house. To cover up for this murder, it is alleged one defendant murdered a man and a woman with knowledge of the first murder.