Morgantown Man Sentenced for Firearms Violation (DOJ)

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - A Monongalia County, West Virginia man was sentenced today for illegally possessing a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey.

Jamie Russell Jones, 47, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison. Law enforcement officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle and observed Jones exit from the car. Officers smelled marijuana and proceeded to lawfully search the vehicle. A backpack with three handguns, some methamphetamine and marijuana, and an empty firearm magazine were seized from the vehicle. All three firearms had been reported stolen from a home in Gassaway, West Virginia, in 2024. Jones is prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior firearms and theft convictions.

Jones will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Rhee prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the West Virginia State Police, and the Gassaway Police Department investigated.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.

This case is part of Operation Take Back Americaa nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.