Department of Justice

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment today against Olympus Shaquille Pereira, 28, of Stockton, charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Nov. 16, 2021, following a lawful search, officers found a Sig Sauer .40‑caliber semi-automatic handgun in Pereira’s vehicle. Pereira has several prior felony convictions—including assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury and two prior felon in possession of a firearm/ammunition convictions—which prohibit him from possessing a firearm.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Violent Crimes Task Force, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, and the Stockton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alstyn Bennett is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Pereira faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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.