DETROIT – Kenneth Moss, Jr., 40, of Detroit, was arraigned on an indictment today charging him with three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced.
According to court records, Moss allegedly committed the offenses in Wayne County and within the Eastern District of Michigan on March 16, 2020, August 22, 2021, and August 25, 2021. Specifically on March 16, 2020, police officers responded to an alleged assault and contacted Moss, who ran from police. After being detained, police recovered a firearm and a quantity of crack cocaine that was packaged in a way consistent with an intent to distribute. Moss is prohibited from possessing firearms based on multiple prior felony convictions. More recently, on August 22, 2021, Moss is alleged to have fired a handgun outside of a residence. Shortly thereafter, on August 25, 2021, police executed a search warrant at Moss’s residence and recovered the firearm allegedly used to commit the shooting a few days before.
Moss has been in custody since his arrest on February 10, 2022, on a criminal complaint. Moss faces up to ten years in prison if convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and up to twenty years in prison if convicted of the drug charge.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Detroit office of the ATF investigated this case with the assistance of the Detroit Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys assigned to the United States Attorney’s Office’s Violent & Organized Crime Unit.
This case is part of 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.