Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

SAVANNAH, GA:  A Chatham County man who threatened a woman with a sawed-off shotgun has been sentenced to nearly a decade in federal prison.

Anthony Polk, 32, of Savannah, was sentenced to 115 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. After completion of his sentence, Polk will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Anthony Polk’s long history as a criminal on our streets ends with this prison sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Christine. “In federal courts, gun crimes earn hard time.”

Polk was arrested by Savannah Police officers in October 2018 after a woman reported Polk pointed a firearm at her. She had agreed to give him a ride in exchange for $10, and when she later asked for the money he instead brandished a gun. She was able to contact police, who found Polk in her vehicle with a loaded, sawed-off shotgun in his backpack.

“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) considers Savannah Police Department a critical partner in its long-term mission of removing criminals from our communities,” said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the ATF.

This investigation took place under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer, and was coordinated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) and the Savannah Police Department. The case was prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney and PSN Coordinator Tania D. Groover.

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