DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Middle District of Florida

For Immediate Release

Monday, October 17, 2016
A. Lee Bentley, III
, United States Attorney
Contact: William Daniels

Jacksonville Felon Convicted of Possessisng a Firearm

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury found Lamar Ivory (25, Jacksonville), also known as “Thug Life,” guilty of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 12, 2017.
 
According to evidence presented at trial, in early 2015, Ivory was a crack cocaine dealer in the north Phillips Highway area of Jacksonville. On April 30, 2015, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office patrol officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that had been reported stolen. Ivory was a passenger in the vehicle and was apprehended, along with the driver. During a search of the vehicle, a Sig Sauer P226 9mm pistol was located in the glove compartment directly in front of the passenger seat where Ivory had been sitting.
 
A trace on the firearm determined that the owner was a Jacksonville criminal defense attorney and firearms collector. The attorney, who subsequently was prosecuted for being in possession of firearms while an unlawful user of crack cocaine, informed agents that Ivory had taken the pistol from him after he had retrieved it from a pawn shop on April 17, 2015. The attorney testified that he knew Ivory by the street name “Thug Life” and that Ivory had been his dealer.
 
At the time of his arrest, Ivory had multiple prior felony convictions, including armed robbery and drug sales, and was therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.
 
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 Daryl R. McCrary, 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. It is also a part of ATF’s Frontline strategy to reduce violent crime in our communities.
 
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mac D. Heavener and Laura Cofer Taylor.
 
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Tampa Field Division