USASC: Columbia man sentenced after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– Acting United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina M. Rhett DeHart says a Columbia man was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a firearm charge. Authorities say 59-year-old Willie Franklin Evans pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

On August 17, 2020, officials say Evans was in a stopped vehicle on Assembly Street when a Columbia Police officer encountered him and recovered a loaded firearm in his waistband. Police say the firearm was stolen. According to authorities, Evans had been released from a three year federal supervision term just nine days before the incident. Investigators say Evans told them he obtained the firearm a few months prior.

Officials say Evans is a convicted felon who is prohibited from carrying firearms. In 1979, authorities say Evans escaped juvenile custody when he was convicted of armed robbery as well as assault and battery with intent to kill for shooting a Richland County deputy five times, carrying a concealed weapon and grand larceny of a vehicle. After he was released in 1993, authorities say Evans was convicted of the armed robbery of two businesses in 1995. Officials say he was released into federal supervision in 2017.

Following his most recent conviction, a judge ordered Evans to a 18 month federal prison sentence followed by three years of supervision.