Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Jackson, TN – Bobby Earl Oliver, 33, of Adamsville, Tennessee, has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. D. Michael Dunavant, U.S. Attorney announced the sentence today.

According to information presented in court, on September 26, 2019, an officer with the Selmer Police Department conducted a traffic stop on Oliver's vehicle for speeding. During the course of the traffic stop, Oliver admitted to having a pistol located beside the driver’s seat. While searching the vehicle, law enforcement located a Jennings .380 caliber pistol beside the driver's seat.

Oliver is a convicted felon, having been previously convicted of three counts of burglary in October 2008 and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver in April 2018 in Hardin County. Additionally, after he committed the present offense in September 2019, Oliver was convicted of delivery of methamphetamine in McNairy County in January 2020.

As a result of his felony convictions, Oliver is prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition, and was determined to be an armed career criminal under the federal sentencing guidelines and subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 months.

On January 26, 2021, Chief U.S. District Judge S. Thomas Anderson sentenced Oliver to 180 months in federal prison and 3 years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said, "Convicted felons who possess firearms are an inherent danger to community, and in this case, the Oliver was an armed career criminal who continued to commit crimes and possess a firearm despite his prior felony conviction history. There is and ought to be a significant consequence for such recidivist criminal behavior, and this sentence removing him from the community for 15 years will make McNairy County and West Tennessee a safer place."

The Selmer Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Morrow prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

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