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NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced today that MIKAL BLACK, age 24, a resident of Ironton, Louisiana, was sentenced on February 22, 2022 to fifty-seven (57) months of imprisonment for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2).  Upon release from imprisonment, BLACK will serve three (3) years of supervised release and pay a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

Court documents show that BLACK had brandished a firearm on multiple occasions throughout July and August of 2020. The firearm was seized on August 11, 2020 and found to be a Glock .40 caliber handgun, loaded with a fifty (50) round drum magazine containing forty-nine (49) rounds of ammunition. BLACK was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a conviction for manufacturing a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance in the 25th Judicial District Court of Louisiana.

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Charles D. Strauss prosecuted the case.