CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — United States Attorney Peter M. McCoy, Jr., announced today that Eric Martin Scott, Jr., 25, of Mount Pleasant, was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
On March 21, 2017, Scott was pulled over for a traffic offense, and a 9mm pistol was located in his car. At the time, Scott was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms. It was also established that Scott was an Armed Career Criminal because he had at least three prior serious drug felonies. This subjected him to a sentence of at least 15 years of imprisonment, and up to life.
“Keeping our communities safe is a top priority of our office,” said U.S. Attorney McCoy. “Mount Pleasant, the Lowcountry, and our State are safer knowing that this career armed criminal will remain behind bars for the foreseeable future. Our office will continue to seek harsh punishments for those with a blatant disregard for the law and who consistently put our law enforcement officers and neighbors in danger.”
United States District Court Judge David C. Norton sentenced Scott to 188 months in federal prison, to be followed by a five-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Mount Pleasant Police Department, and Charleston County Sheriff’s Office. This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Assistant United States Attorney Nathan Williams of the Charleston office prosecuted the case.