Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Brockton Armed Career Criminal Receives 15 Years in Federal Firearms Case
BOSTON – A Brockton man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston yesterday in connection with his possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Foster L. Starks, Jr., 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release. The sentence imposed was largely a product of Starks’s lengthy criminal history. Beginning in 1989, Starks has been convicted of nine armed robberies, two unarmed robberies, one armed robbery while masked, and two armed robberies with intent to rob. Based on this history, Starks qualified as an armed career criminal and therefore is subject to a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison.
In September 2015, Starks was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition following a week-long jury trial. Trial evidence revealed that on May 24, 2009, at 11:05 p.m., Starks was stopped by a Massachusetts State Police Trooper for a marked lanes violation while driving on Route 24 North in Raynham. Starks was arrested after the Trooper discovered that he was driving with a suspended license. While performing a search of the car, the Trooper found a shopping bag on the front passenger seat containing a .45 caliber handgun loaded with seven bullets. The shopping bag also contained two boxes of additional ammunition and four bottles containing prescription medications. Starks’s prior convictions prohibited him from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David G. Tobin and Jordi de Llano of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.