Columbia Man Sentences to 151 Months for Gun Thefts, Drug Charge

COLUMBIA, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins stated that JOSHUA JUSTON SEIBLES, age 24, of Columbia, was sentenced in federal court to 151 months imprisonment for stealing and possessing firearms, and to possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it. United States District Judge Margaret B. Seymour imposed the sentence, which will be followed by three years of supervised release.

In March of 2007, Columbia gun store Wateree Arms was burglarized and numerous firearms and boxes of ammunition were stolen. The investigation led authorities to Seibles’ residence, where they recovered many of the firearms and ammunition, and also located a stash of marijuana. Seibles admitted to breaking into Wateree Arms, stealing the firearms and ammunition, obliterating the serial numbers of many of them, and selling ten of the firearms on the streets. Seibles, who was on state probation at the time, is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition based upon prior state convictions for burglary and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

The investigation was handled by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, as part of the joint federal, state and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Assistant United States Attorney Stacey D. Haynes of the Columbia office handled the prosecution of the case.