A Richmond County man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison following a conviction on gun possession charges and drug trafficking.
Kelvin Laron Howard, 68, was sentenced to 175 months in prison after a U.S. District Court jury convicted him on charges of possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
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Howard was also fined $2,500 by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall and ordered to serve three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term. The federal system does not have parole.
“Kelvin Howard was identified as a significant distributor of illegal drugs in the Augusta area, and held to account through a jury trial,” said U.S. Attorney Steinberg. “His sentence demonstrates there is no tolerance for armed drug dealers in our community.”
Howard was convicted on all charges in December 2023 by a U.S. District Court jury. An investigation by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office identified Howard as a heroin distributor in the Augusta area. During a search of his apartment, investigators found heroin for more than 700 individual doses, along with drug scales and packaging materials, nearly $1,000 in cash, and a loaded semiautomatic pistol.
“There is nothing more critical to ATF than increasing the safety of our communities. Cases which result in the arrests and prosecution of violent criminals are fundamental to continuing to show criminals that ATF and its law enforcement partners will not falter in this mission,” said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “We will pursue criminals wherever they may operate, and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said the arrest and conviction of Howard is an example of the community’s support the sheriff’s office has in Richmond County.
“Mr. Howard was not only identified as participating in illegal drug activity, but he was also found to have a firearm in his possession as a convicted felon,” Roundtree said. “His conviction has the potential to save lives by having one less illegal firearm on the streets and illegal drugs in our community.”
The case was investigated by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia G. Rhodes and L. Alexander Hamner.
