SHREVEPORT, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Bossier City man was sentenced Wednesday to 77 months in prison for illegally possessing ammunition.
Sidney Joseph Patterson, 45, of Bossier City, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release. According to the October 1, 2015 guilty plea, Bossier Parish Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the January 9, 2015 discharge of a homemade “zip gun” firearm at Patterson’s residence, which wounded Patterson in the back. Found at the residence was the discharged zip gun and three other zip guns loaded with two rounds of 12 gauge shotgun ammunition and one round of .380 caliber ammunition. Prior to this offense, Patterson had other felony drug convictions.
A “zip gun” is an improvised firearm not manufactured by a firearms manufacturer or gunsmith, ranging in quality from crude weapons that are as much a danger to the user as the target, to high-quality arms.
This investigation and prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which is a Department of Justice initiative to reduce firearm crimes by preventing the possession and use of firearms by dangerous and persistent felons and others not authorized to possess a firearm and to promote firearm safety.
The ATF and the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Gillespie Jr. prosecuted the case.