Summers County Man Sentenced For Federal Firearms Charges
Sunday, February 16, 2025, 10:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BECKLEY, W.VA.- On Friday, a 38-year-old Meadow Bridge, West Virginia, man learned he would be spending nearly the next two years in federal prison after being sentenced for having a sawed-off shotgun in plain view after Police Officers discovered it after responding to a domestic dispute at Meadow Bridge home.
On Friday, February 14, 2025, Matthew Harris England, 38, of Meadow Bridge, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank W. Volk to 20 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release on his guilty pleas of being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm, Convicted Felon; and Possession of an Unregistered Short-Barreled Shotgun.
According To U.S.Attorney Will Thompson
According to U.S. Attorney Will Thompson and charging documents filed with the District Court, on April 3, 2023, members of the Summers County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of a domestic disturbance at England’s Meadow Bridge residence. Upon arrival, Sheriff’s Officers entered the home, where they found and seized a Stevens Savage 20-gauge shotgun with a modified and shortened barrel and a shortened stock on a chair in the living room.
At that time, England was immediately taken into custody. During questioning, England admitted to Sheriff’s Officers that he knew the firearm was in the residence and the length of the barrel was illegal.
A subsequent records check of the shotgun revealed that the gun was not registered to England in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer database as required by law. Federal law also prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from owning and possessing a firearm or ammunition.
England knew when he possessed the shotgun on April 3, 2023, he was a prohibited person due to his prior felony convictions for aiding and abetting the possession of stolen firearms in the Southern District of West Virginia in May 2014.
U.S. Attorney Thompson commended the investigative work of the Summers County Sheriff’s Department, the West Virginia State Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive which led to the successful prosecution of England.
