Court Sentences Mobile County Woman For Possessing A Firearm As An Eight Time Convicted Felon

MOBILE, AL - On February 23, 2026, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock sentenced Heather Ashley Stringfellow to 77 months' imprisonment for Possession of a Firearm as a Convicted Felon.

Court documents show that on August 2, 2024, Mobile County Sheriff's Office deputies executed a search warrant at the Stringfellow's home in Grand Bay, Alabama, where she was found in bed in the master bedroom. Under that bed, deputies located a Taurus GX4 semi-automatic pistol. Deputies also found a purse belonging to Stringfellow which contained marijuana, Xanax bars, and a baggie containing a small amount of methamphetamine. Stringfellow admitted to deputies that several individuals sold drugs from the home.

During the investigation deputies obtained a screen shot from a cellular telephone in which the defendant was texting with another individual. In the text messages Stringfellow sent a picture of the Taurus firearm and stated: "I bought a pistol." The picture matched the firearm seized.

Stringfellow also made a recorded phone call from the Metro Jail in which she asked another person to sign an affidavit saying the weapon belonged to her (the other person's) deceased father. The other person's deceased father previously owned and lived in the trailer where the defendant was living at the time of the search and the false ploy was to represent that the deceased man left the weapon in the trailer under the box spring.

Stringfellow had been previously convicted of the following eight felonies: Money Laundering, on or about October 16, 2017, in United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama; Possession of a Controlled Substance, on or about April 2, 2013, in the Circuit Court for Mobile County, Alabama; Identity Theft, on or about April 2, 2013, in the Circuit Court for Mobile County, Alabama; Obstructing Justice-False Identification, on or about April 2, 2013, in the Circuit Court for Mobile County, Alabama; Possession of a Forged Instrument, 2nd degree, on or about October 19, 2011, in the Circuit Court for Mobile County, Alabama; Robbery, 2nd Degree, on or about May 11, 2011, in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama; Possession of a Forged Instrument, 2nd Degree, on or about October 5, 2006, in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama; and Theft of Property, First Degree, on or about October 5, 2006, in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).