AUGUSTA, GA: A Richmond County man with a violent criminal history has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for illegal possession of a gun.
Todd Joseph Harbuck, 48, of Augusta, was sentenced to 188 months in prison after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randal Hall also found that Harbuck violated the terms of his supervised release after a prior conviction and imprisonment for Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and sentenced Harbuck to an additional 24 months in prison to run consecutively with the new sentence. Upon release from prison, Harbuck must serve an additional five years of supervised release.
There is no parole in the federal system.
“Todd Harbuck’s disturbing record of violent attacks on women and public safety officers and illegal drug use makes it abundantly clear he is danger to society,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “With our law enforcement partners, we will work to keep our community safe and remove guns from the hands of violent offenders.”
As described in court, Columbia County sheriff’s deputies responded in July 2022 to a report of domestic violence in Grovetown, Ga., and found Harbuck’s ex-girlfriend with injuries that included a serious laceration to her head and a bite mark on her arm. Harbuck threatened to shoot her and struck her in the head with a pistol before taking a gun from her. He then shoved a neighbor who came to her defense, pointed a weapon at her and fired into the air as he left and drove away.
Harbuck was arrested the next day in Oconee County, Ga. Deputies found drugs in Harbuck’s vehicle and later located the pistol taken from his ex-girlfriend.
Harbuck previously was sentenced to prison 2008 in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. He has prior state felony convictions that include assaulting and stabbing a loss prevention officer; attacking a Medical College of Georgia police officer who attempted his arrest for a felony probation violation in 2000 by punching her in the face and shoving her into a concrete floor; and for firing at McCormick County, S.C., deputies during a vehicle chase in July 2008.
This investigation took place under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia G. Rhodes.