Jacksonville felon guilty of possessing firearm

Ivory faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years to life in federal prison

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal jury found Lamar Ivory, 25 of Jacksonville, also known as "Thug Life," guilty of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years to life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan.12, according to the Department of Justice. 

According to evidence presented at trial, in early 2015 Ivory was a crack cocaine dealer in the north Phillips Highway area of Jacksonville. On April 30, 2015, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office patrol officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that had been reported stolen. Ivory was a passenger in the vehicle and was apprehended, along with the driver. During a search of the vehicle, a Sig Sauer P226 9mm pistol was located in the glove compartment directly in front of the passenger seat where Ivory had been sitting, the DOJ said. 

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A trace on the firearm determined that the owner was a Jacksonville criminal defense attorney and firearms collector. The attorney, who subsequently was prosecuted for being in possession of firearms while an unlawful user of crack cocaine, informed agents that Ivory had taken the pistol from him after he had retrieved it from a pawn shop on April 17, 2015. The attorney testified that he knew Ivory by the street name "Thug Life" and that Ivory had been his dealer.

At the time of arrest, Ivory had multiple prior felony convictions including drug sales, armed robbery and drug sales. This made him prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law. 

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.