07/18/2025 | Press release | Archived content
Tampa, Florida - U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday has sentenced Wayne Lamar Davis (55, St. Petersburg) to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison for possessing ammunition as a convicted felon. Davis was found guilty following a bench trial in March 2025.
According to statements made in court, Davis committed a traffic infraction while driving two young children to school on the morning of March 8, 2024. When the St. Petersburg Police Department officer who conducted a traffic stop attempted to detain Davis, Davis violently resisted, slipped out of his shirt and shorts, and fled on foot in his underwear. The officer apprehended Davis after a brief foot chase, locating a loaded firearm in a bag that Davis had retrieved from his vehicle. Davis received an enhanced sentence pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act based on prior state convictions for robbery, aggravated assault, and resisting an officer with violence and a prior federal conviction for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Petersburg Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David P. Sullivan.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.