DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Western District of North Carolina

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Anne M. Tompkins
, United States Attorney
Contact: Lia Bantavani

Atlanta, GA. Man Sentenced To More Than 15 Years In Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tommie Lee Williams, 43, of Atlanta, Ga. was sentenced on Monday, March 30, 2014 to serve 184 months in prison for federal firearms violations, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney also sentenced Williams to serve five years under court supervision following his prison term.

Wayne L. Dixie, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division joins U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.

Williams pleaded guilty in January 2013 to one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. According to court documents and yesterday’s sentencing proceedings, in October 2011 Williams brandished a firearm during a drug transaction with an undercover officer. In November 2011, while conducting a traffic stop of the vehicle in which Williams was a passenger, law enforcement recovered an Uzi .45 caliber assault rifle and ammunition from a backpack that belonged to Williams. At the time of the offenses, Williams was a convicted felon and was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Williams has been in federal custody since February 2012. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The investigation was handled by ATF. The prosecution for the government was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Claire Phillips of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.

# # #

Charlotte Field Division