January 30, 2008

CONVICTED BANK ROBBER SENTENCED TO 22-AND-A -HALF YEARS IN PRISON FOR ILLEGAL GUN POSSESSION

SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that Frederick Lim Johnson was sentenced last week to 22 years and seven months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and for violating the terms of his supervised release.

In August 2007 a federal jury found that Johnson illegally possessed a loaded .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol on May 30, 2007. Johnson has prior convictions for armed bank robbery and is thus prohibited by federal law from possessing any gun.

The evidence at trial established that in May 2007, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) agents investigating a series of bank robberies had Johnson under surveillance. On May 25, 2007, the agents observed Johnson drive to and around numerous banks in Milpitas, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. Johnson’s pattern of movements led the agents to believe he was scouting the banks for robbery.

On May 30, 2007, Johnson drove to the area of a Wells Fargo Bank in Sunnyvale he previously had scouted. He entered a parking lot located approximately 200 yards from the bank and parked his car with the nose facing out. He got out of his car, carrying a brown tote bag, and entered a sport utility vehicle (“SUV”) that had driven into the lot with him. The SUV was driven by an acquaintance of Johnson’s. The two drove to the nearby Wells Fargo Bank that Johnson had appeared to case in previous days, drove into and around the parking lot, then drove out. Minutes later they returned to the same bank parking lot and drove around the lot again. After the men left the bank parking lot and returned to the original parking lot where defendant had parked his car, the FBI stopped the SUV and ordered the two men out of the vehicle. On the front passenger floorboard, at the feet of where Johnson had just been sitting, the agents found the brown tote bag. It contained a loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun, a flesh-colored face mask, a pair of Nike batting gloves, a dark blue knit cap, and a holster. At the time of his arrest, Johnson was on supervised release because of a 2003 conviction for armed bank robbery.

United States District Court Judge Martin J. Jenkins sentenced Johnson to 235 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm, and 36 months in prison for violating his conditions of supervised release by possessing the same firearm. Judge Jenkins ordered the two prison sentences to run consecutively, for a total term of imprisonment of 271 months (22 years and seven months). In addition, Judge Jenkins sentenced Johnson to a further term of five years of supervised release and imposed a $100 special assessment.

Assistant United States Attorneys Drew Caputo and Tracie Brown prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States with the assistance of Rawaty Yim, Karem Alvarez, and Ponly Tu.

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For more information on federal criminal defense law, contact the Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria of Los Angeles, California.