Florence man sentenced on gun charge

A Florence man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins said in a press release.

U.S. District Judge Terry L. Wooten sentenced 30-year-old Darris Bernard Evans II to 38 months in prison.

Evans was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by a S.C. Highway Patrol trooper for a traffic violation in March 2007. The trooper noticed what appeared to be a handgun in Evans’ pants, and a search revealed a loaded .38-caliber revolver.

The case, which also was investigated by the Darlington Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rose Mary Parham of the Florence office as part of Project CeaseFire, an initiative of the United States Attorneys Office that seeks to aggressively prosecute gun-related crimes.