Blue Ridge Man Sentenced For West Virginia Federal Gun Charge

Friday, August 15, 2025, 8:45 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

CHARLESTON, W.VA.- A 43-year-old Blue Ridge, Georgia, man was sentenced on Tuesday in Federal Court in Charleston, West Virginia, for unlawfully possessing a firearm during a July 2024 traffic stop in Charleston, West Virginia.

     According to Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston, on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, Jeremiah Clinton Gray, 43, of Blue Ridge, Georgia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge David A. Faber to 16 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm, Convicted Felon.

According To Court Documents

     According to the charging documents filed with the District Court, on July 22, 2024, Ohio Police Officers responded to reports of a man being inside a Jackson County, Ohio business with a firearm, body armor, and a badge. The individual, later identified as Gray, left the business in a vehicle without a license plate and fled from an attempted traffic stop by Police Officers.

     The ensuing pursuit led Police Officers into West Virginia, where the vehicle was ultimately stopped in Charleston, West Virginia, by deploying spike strips. Following the vehicle becoming disabled, Gray was taken into custody. During Gray’s arrest, a subsequent search of the vehicle, Police Officers located and seized a loaded Taurus 9mm handgun on Gray’s person and a Mossberg .410 shotgun inside the vehicle. A subsequent records check revealed that Gray had been previously convicted of a felony.

Gray Was Previously Convicted In Tennessee Federal Court

     Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction or a misdemeanor conviction of domestic violence from owning or possessing a firearm and ammunition. Gray knew that when he possessed the two firearms on July 22, 2024, he was a prohibited person, due to his prior felony conviction for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a controlled substance, cocaine, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in October 2023.

     Acting U.S. Attorney Johnston commended the investigative work of the West Virginia State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, which led to the successful prosecution of Gray.