Scranton man pleads guilty to firearm charge

A Scranton man has pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, acting U.S. Attorney Kevin F. McDonald said in a press release.

United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell accepted the plea from 29-year-old King Solomon McCrea Jr. and will sentence him later. McCrea faces as many as 10 years in prison.

On April 11, 2007, Scranton Police Chief Larry W. Rogers tried to stop on a car driven by McCrea for a seat-belt violation. McCrea refused to stop, running several stop signs and crashing into a Lake City police car before coming to a stop.

Once arrested, officers found a loaded .380-caliber pistol under the driver’s seat of the car. 

McCrea previously has been convicted of burglary and failure to stop for a blue light.

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