Kanawha County Heading To Federal Prison For Federal Gun Crime
Friday, May 9, 2025, 8:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
CHARLESTON, W.VA.- Yesterday, a 44-year-old St. Albans, West Virginia, man learned he would be spending 37 months in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm during a bizarre incident that occurred last year inside a South Charleston, West Virginia store.
On Thursday, May 8, 2025, Larry Joe Chapman, 44, of St. Albans, West Virginia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Irene C. Berger to 37 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release on his previously entered guilty plea of being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm.
According To Charging Documents
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston and charging documents filed with the District Court, on March 28, 2024, members of the South Charleston Police Department responded to a report of a shoplifting incident at a store located on MacCorkle Avenue in South Charleston, West Virginia.
Upon arrival, Police Officers found that Chapman, the individual who shoplifted numerous items, had locked himself inside a storage room. Upon Police Officers’ requests, Chapman unlocked the door. Subsequently, Police Officers found him in the storage room with an open knife in his hand. Police Officers disarmed and arrested Chapman and took him outside of the store.
Police Find Handgun On Chapman
During the arrest procedure, Police Officers found a Smith & Wesson .380-caliber handgun and over $1,000 of merchandise belonging to the store on his person. A Subsequent records check uncovered that the handgun had been reported stolen.
Federal prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from owning or possessing a firearm and ammunition. Chapman knew he was a prohibited person when he possessed the firearm on March 28, 2024, due to his prior felony convictions for breaking and entering in February 2018 and conspiracy to operate and attempt to operate a clandestine drug laboratory in November 2023, both convictions in the Kanawha County Circuit Court.
