Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Fort Myers, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Michael Terrill Faircloth (58, Cape Coral) guilty of possessing a firearm and ammunition after being convicted of a felony offense. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 2, 2016.

Faircloth was indicted on July 9, 2014. 

According to testimony presented at trial, prior to May 21, 2014, the date of the offense, Faircloth had been convicted of felony offenses, and was wanted on an active arrest warrant. Upon receiving information of his possible location, law enforcement officers from the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, the United States Marshals Service, and the Cape Coral Police Department conducted an operation to arrest Faircloth. When law enforcement officers arrived to execute the arrest, they witnessed Faircloth, who was standing in a neighbor’s yard, holding a firearm in his back waistband. As the officers approached Faircloth, he fled a short distance, threw the loaded gun to the ground, and surrendered.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles Schmitz.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program - a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy.  United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, along with Regina Lombardo, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

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