TAMPA, FL — In the wake of a string of escalating gun violence in Tampa Bay, the U.S. District Court is cracking down on those who commit crimes using firearms.

In the past three weeks alone, seven Tampa residents have been indicted, pleaded guilty or were sentenced to federal prison for crimes involving guns.

As part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, over the past three months, prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida have prosecuted more than 130 people for federal firearms and violent crime offenses, removing more than 300 firearms from the streets.

"Reducing violent crime is a top priority for our office," said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg. "Over the past three months, I have increased the number of prosecutors assigned to handle violent crime and firearms cases and have met with our state and local partners to better understand the issues in our communities. Through those efforts, more than 130 defendants have been prosecuted in federal court and more than 300 firearms have been seized from those defendants. Working with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to work to make communities throughout the Middle District of Florida safer."

Project Safe Neighborhoods is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts.

This evidence-based program has proven to be effective at reducing violent crime by engaging a broad spectrum of agencies working together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in communities and developing comprehensive solutions that reduce crime.

As part of this strategy, Project Safe Neighborhoods focuses on prevention and intervention efforts through community engagement and problem-solving partnerships, strategic enforcement of the most violent offenders, and locally based reentry programs to reduce recidivism.

Each of the five divisions of the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida — Orlando, Jacksonville, Ocala, Tampa and Fort Myers — have developed violent crime reduction strategies in 2022, Handberg said.

The cases identified in the linked chart have been investigated by the Apopka Police Department, the Bradenton Police Department, the Cocoa Beach Police Department, the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, the Collier County Sheriff's Office, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, the Fort Myers Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Lake County Police Department, the Lake Mary Police Department, the Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office, the Ocala Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, the Pasco Sheriff's Office, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Sanford Police Department, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, the Sarasota Police Department, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, the St. Petersburg Police Department, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, the Tampa Police Department, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshal's Service, the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Among the prosecutions for gun-related crimes, on April 21, Tampa United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Elijah Howard, 22, of Tampa pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Howard faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, Howard, a multi-convicted felon, brandished a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine during an Instagram video on Dec. 21.

Later that same day, Tampa police officers encountered Howard in possession of the same firearm during a traffic stop. Howard was detained and the firearm was recovered. Officers said the firearm was loaded with 34 rounds of ammunition, including a round in the chamber.

Then, on April 22, Devin Kelly, 27, of Tampa pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Kelly faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, on July 2, 2021, Kelly and co-defendant Keyshawn Watts, 21, of Tampa handled and displayed an AR-15-style rifle during an Instagram live video. One week later, investigators searched Kelly's home and seized a Ruger AR 556 rifle and an extended magazine loaded with 40 rounds of ammunition.

Watts was charged with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. His case is currently pending trial.

On April 27, Tampa U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew sentenced Antonio Phillips, 23, of Tampa to eight years in federal prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.

Phillips pleaded guilty on Jan. 25.

According to court documents, on Dec. 1, 2020, Phillips and others were inside a white Infiniti and pulled out in front of another occupied vehicle in Tampa. The occupants of the Infiniti opened fire into the other vehicle's windshield.

Video surveillance captured muzzle flashes coming from the passenger side of the Infiniti where Phillips was sitting. Phillips and others fled from the Infiniti, discarded weapons, jumped over fences and across yards before they were ultimately apprehended.

Officers recovered the firearms used in the shooting including a Glock 19 (9mm), an FNH (.40-caliber), and a Glock 26 (9mm), along with a 50-round drum-style magazine and trigger mounted laser. An empty semi-automatic magazine was recovered from the Infiniti's driver's door pocket, and an empty black pistol holster was recovered from the back right passenger's seat of the vehicle. DNA belonging to Phillips and three other men was recovered from the Glock 26.

In an unrelated case, on April 28, Karey Tyrone Taylor II, 42, of Tampa pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon.

He faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, on Jan. 2, 2021, Taylor brandished a firearm at a woman while they were driving in adjacent lanes on East Fowler Avenue in Tampa.

The Tampa Police Department located Taylor's car at a nearby gas station and found a black handgun in the driver's side door pocket of Taylor's car. The handgun had one round of ammunition in the chamber and 14 rounds of ammunition in an extended magazine.

On May 2, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle sentenced Willard Green Porter, 44, of Tampa to five years and three months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Porter was also ordered to forfeit the firearm. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 18.

According to court records, on June 29, officers from the Tampa Police Department spotted a speeding vehicle that failed to stop at a stop sign shortly before 1 a.m.

They pulled over the vehicle on Terra Ceia Drive as the car pulled into a residential driveway. When the officers approached the vehicle, one of the officers saw Porter reach into the vehicle's center console and put his hand on a black handgun.

Porter admitted to police that he was a convicted felon, that he knew he had the gun in his car, and that he kept the loaded gun "for protection."

When Porter was searched, the officers located plastic baggies in his front pocket containing 3 grams of powder cocaine and 2 grams of crack cocaine. An additional 11.6 grams of crack cocaine, several scales and empty baggies were recovered from inside the car. In addition, a black Springfield Armory .40 pistol was recovered from the center console of the car. The pistol was loaded with 15 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber.

Porter had multiple felony convictions, including possession of cocaine (2002); battery on a law enforcement officer (2004); obstructing an officer with violence (2004); possession of cocaine (2004); tampering with evidence (2004); and possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine (2004), for which he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

On May 4, Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Richard Allen Randolph, 42, of Youngstown, Ohio, with four counts of interference with commerce by robbery and attempted robbery, three counts of brandishing a firearm, and one count of discharging a firearm during the commission of one of the robberies.

If convicted, Randolph faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each robbery count, a minimum mandatory term of seven years up to life in federal prison for each count of brandishing a firearm, and a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years up to life in federal prison for discharging a firearm during one of the robberies.

According to the indictment, between Jan. 27 and Feb. 26, 2020, Randolph went into four commercial establishments in Tampa and robbed store employees at gunpoint.

Handberg also announced that Javeon Maurice Jacobs, 22, of Tampa pleaded guilty May 5 to three firearms offenses relating to brandishing a firearm during three armed carjackings. Jacobs entered guilty pleas on April 14. He faces a minimum mandatory term of 21 years and up to life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 13.

According to the plea agreement, on March 31, 2021, Jacobs used a firearm and physical force to carjack a vehicle in Safety Harbor. On April 18, 2021, Jacobs kidnapped two people at gunpoint in Tampa and took their vehicle. After releasing those victims, Jacobs abandoned the vehicle and then carjacked another vehicle, again by brandishing a firearm.

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