MOBILE — A Mobile man with multiple prior felony convictions has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after officers found him in possession of a loaded handgun despite a legal bar on his owning firearms, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Artez Martre Williams, 24, was arrested on Nov. 20, 2025, after Mobile Police Department narcotics investigators executed a search warrant at his home, according to court documents. U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama announced the sentence.
What officers found
During the search, officers found a loaded Glock 9mm pistol in the closet of Williams’s bedroom, located near paperwork bearing his name, including a probation drug-testing card and documents from a previous prison sentence.
Investigators also found marijuana hidden in Williams’s shoes and baggies commonly used to package drugs for distribution in a carport attached to the home, along with a Taurus pistol magazine. Several rounds of 9mm ammunition were recovered from Williams’s vehicle, which was parked in front of the house.
The warrant service was part of ongoing narcotics enforcement work in the area, and the search turned up evidence that quickly moved the case beyond drug allegations. Search warrants in gun cases are typically built on accumulated information: investigations, informants, surveillance or prior contacts.
Admissions to detectives
During an interview with detectives, Williams admitted the pistol was his and said he kept it for protection from rival gang members, according to court records. He acknowledged he was on federal supervised release and state probation stemming from prior felony convictions, including discharging a firearm into an occupied building, first-degree theft of property, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to a fraudulent COVID-19 relief loan.
Those admissions effectively removed any dispute about ownership of the gun, leaving the case to turn on the consequences of a felon being caught with a firearm under federal law. Courts have consistently rejected self-defense as a justification for a felon’s gun possession, since the statute allows no exception based on why the weapon was kept.
The federal charge
Under federal law, anyone previously convicted of a felony is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. The statute, found in Title 18 of the U.S. Code, does not require any proof that the defendant used the gun in another crime; possession alone is the offense. The prohibition is permanent and applies to any firearm. Prosecutors do not need to show the weapon was stolen, used or even intended for use.
Williams’s prior convictions, which spanned violent crime, property crime and fraud, placed him squarely within the prohibited category, and the Glock found in his home completed the offense. The fraud conviction traces to the wave of cases that followed the federal government’s pandemic relief programs; federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Alabama have handled numerous cases involving fraudulent relief loans.
Each of the prior convictions carries weight of its own. Discharging a firearm into an occupied building is a violent offense that endangers everyone inside. First-degree theft of property is among the most serious theft charges in Alabama law. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud involves schemes carried out through interstate communications. A defendant convicted of all three has established a record spanning violence, property crime and fraud — precisely the profile the federal firearm prohibition was written to address.
The sentence
U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose sentenced Williams to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, during which he will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The judge did not impose a fine but ordered Williams to pay a $100 special assessment and forfeit the pistol to the United States.
The supervised release term means that after his prison time ends, Williams will remain under federal supervision with conditions he must follow. A violation does not require a new conviction; a probation officer’s report of a failed test or missed appointment can send the releasee back before the judge and, potentially, back to prison. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
Forfeiture removes the weapon — the actual pistol found in the home — from circulation permanently, by order of the court. The drug testing and treatment conditions align directly with the circumstances of the offense, in which drugs were found alongside the gun.
Who investigated and prosecuted
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller.
The partnership reflects how gun prosecutions are built in the federal system: local police develop the case on the street, and the ATF brings its expertise in firearms tracing and federal weapons law, with the U.S. Attorney’s office taking the case into federal court. The bureau maintains a presence in Mobile and works with local departments across south Alabama on firearms cases.
Tracing is central to that work — determining where a recovered gun came from and how it traveled to the person holding it. For Mobile police, the partnership also means a case like this one can be moved into a system with sentencing structures tailored to repeat offenders, rather than resolved in state court, where penalties for simple possession are often lighter and less certain.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative that partners federal, state and local law enforcement with community organizations to reduce violent crime and gun violence. The program, launched nationally in 2001 and revitalized in subsequent years, directs federal prosecutors to prioritize cases involving felons with guns, gang activity and firearms trafficking, while pairing enforcement with prevention and reentry efforts in the neighborhoods most affected by shootings.
In Mobile, the initiative has meant a steady pipeline of gun possession cases moving from city arrests to federal indictments. Police narcotics units, gang investigators and patrol officers routinely coordinate with ATF agents, and cases are reviewed for federal prosecution based on the defendant’s record and the circumstances of the arrest. Community organizations funded under the program work on the other side of the equation, offering violence interruption, job training and mentoring.
How the sentence fits the guidelines
A 30-month term sits within the range that federal sentencing guidelines typically produce for a defendant with Williams’s record and no aggravating circumstances involving the gun itself, such as an armed drug trafficking operation or a connection to a violent incident. Guidelines weigh the defendant’s criminal history, the circumstances of the offense and any aggravating factors before arriving at a term within the statutory range.
Judge DuBose sits in the Southern District of Alabama, the federal judicial district whose territory runs from the Mississippi line east to the Florida border and north through the river counties. Firearms cases occupy a steady share of the district’s docket, reflecting the enforcement priorities of the U.S. Attorney’s office and its law enforcement partners.
The strategy behind the case
City officials have repeatedly pointed to the strategy when discussing Mobile’s response to gun violence: a relatively small number of repeat offenders are responsible for a disproportionate share of shootings, and removing them from the streets — even on possession charges rather than violent charges — is intended to prevent the next incident.
For Williams, the conviction adds a new layer to an already extensive record. His prior convictions now sit alongside a federal felony that will permanently bar him from possessing firearms under the same statute that produced this case. Any future gun possession would expose him to sentences measured in years rather than months, because repeat offenders face escalating guideline ranges with each new federal conviction.