Kingstree man sentenced to 10 years in prison

A Kingstree man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and discharging a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime, U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins said in a press release issued Thursday afternoon.

U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell handed the sentence down to 29-year-old Tumero Germaine Evans.

On March 12, 2007, Evans had an altercation with another man over money owed to Evans from a drug transaction. Evans shot once at the victim and forced him, at gunpoint, to undress so Evans could search him for drugs or money.

The case was investigated by the Wiilliamsburg County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rose Mary Parham of the Florence office prosecuted the case as part of Project CeaseFire, an initiative of the United States Attorneys Office that seeks to aggressively prosecute gun-related crimes.