DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

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

For Immediate Release

Thursday, August 13, 2015
A. Lee Bentley, III
, United States Attorney
Contact: William Daniels

Armed Career Criminal Sentenced to 15 Years for Possession of a Firearm

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich has sentenced Justin Robinson (33, Tampa) to 15 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty on October 21, 2014.

According to court documents, at approximately 3:45 a.m., on April 28, 2014, a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputy saw Robinson hiding behind a van outside an apartment complex in Tampa. Robinson told the deputy that he was in the area to visit a friend, but residents of the apartment he claimed to be visiting later said that they did not know Robinson. The deputy found a loaded .9 mm firearm on the ground where Robinson had been hiding, and ordered Robinson to put his hands behind his back. Robinson fled, but was apprehended after a short foot chase. Law enforcement officials later determined that the firearm had been stolen during a residential burglary.

Robinson was previously convicted of several felonies, including three drug trafficking offenses, and is therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.  As such, he qualified for an enhanced penalty under the Armed Career Criminal statute.

This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Natalie Hirt Adams and Megan Kistler.

This is another case prosecuted as 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 Regina Lombardo, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, are 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 on reducing violent crime in communities.

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Tampa Field Division