Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BILLINGS — A man with multiple state and federal felony convictions was sentenced today to a total of five years and five months in prison for violating supervised release on prior convictions and for illegally possessing a firearm after law enforcement found a loaded gun in a vehicle he was driving when it crashed, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

Travis Alan-Cody Pair, 39, a transient, pleaded guilty in January to prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Pair also admitted to violating conditions of supervised release for two earlier convictions.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The court imposed a 57-month sentence for the firearm conviction and ordered a consecutive eight months in prison in revocations of supervised release for prior federal convictions on felon in possession of a firearm and a drug trafficking crime.

The government alleged in court documents that in August 2022, Billings Police Department officers responded to a traffic accident involving a Subaru and detained the driver, identified as Pair, who attempted to walk away. Officers recovered a fully loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol that had a round in the chamber from the floor of the driver’s seat. Before the accident, a witness claimed that Pair displayed the gun to the witness after Pair noticed the witness following Pair’s car. At the time of crash, Pair was on state and federal supervision for felony convictions and was prohibited from possessing firearms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin M. Rubich prosecuted the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Billings Police Department conducted the investigation.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.