WHITTON PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL FIREARM VIOLATIONS

BIRMINGHAM, AL - United States Attorney Alice H. Martin of the Northern District of Alabama and Carmen S. Adams, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation announced today that BARRY VAN WHITTON, 38, of Section, Alabama has pled guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms. Whitton pled guilty before Chief United States District Judge Sharon L. Blackburn.

According to the factual basis provided in the plea agreement, investigators discovered firearms on July 3, 2007, when searching Whitton’s home in regards to his missing wife and stepdaughter. A search warrant was executed at Whitton’s residence on July 12, 2007, and five firearms, to include a Columbia 12 gauge shotgun, a Universal M-1carbine semi-automatic carbine, a Winchester 30-30 lever action rifle, a Crickett .22 caliber rifle and a Savage Arms .22 caliber rifle were recovered from the residence. Whitton was a convicted felon at the time the firearms were recovered, having been convicted of receiving stolen property in March 1998 and May 1991.

WHITTON faces a statutory maximum of up to ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

“This office is committed to aggressively enforcing federal firearms law. If you are a convicted felon and you possess any type of firearm, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” stated U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin.

Members of law enforcement including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Jackson, DeKalb and Marshall County Sheriff’s Offices, The Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Alabama State Troopers, Marine Patrol, Alabama Fish and Wildlife Service and the Scottsboro Police Department have assisted in the investigation of the Whitton case, and Assistant United States Attorney Alison S. Blackwell is prosecuting this case.

A sentencing date will be set in approximately three months.

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