Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –A federal judge today sentenced a Tuscaloosa man to 235 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.

U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon sentenced Montez Vantarus Spradley, 37, for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Spradley pled guilty to the single count indictment in August 2019.  

“Spradley spent the last 17 years traveling through the revolving doors of overwhelmed state courthouses and over-crowded prisons,” Town said.  “His next 19 years will be spent locked away in a federal prison.”

“ATF’s priority of removing the criminal element that uses firearms in domestic violence situations is clearly evident with this sentencing,” Marcus said.

According to court documents, in the early morning hours of March 26, 2019, Tuscaloosa police responded to a domestic violence call at the apartment where Spradley lived with his girlfriend.  They found her bleeding from a head wound that she received when Spradley struck her with a pistol during an argument.  Officers recovered the pistol and a loaded magazine from a bedroom closet at the residence.  When officers arrested Spradley for domestic violence, they found in his pocket a second magazine containing identical ammunition.

Spradley’s sentence was driven by his extensive criminal history, which included prior convictions for assault, second degree, felony murder, intimidating a witness, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, and possession of a controlled substance.

The ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Baty prosecuted.

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