Department of Justice

Acting United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition by a Prohibited Person was sentenced by Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Judge.

Allen Libby, age 29, was sentenced on May 26, 2021, to 48 months in federal prison and 3 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The charge relates to Libby, a previously convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing firearms, knowingly possessing a Hi-Point, 9mm semiautomatic pistol and 9mm ammunition, which was found after Libby came into contact with law enforcement in April 2020 in Rapid City.

This case is being 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.

This case is also part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. For more information about Project Guardian, please see: https://www.justice.gov/projectguardian.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Patterson prosecuted the case.

Libby was immediately remanded to the custody of the US Marshals Service.