Federal court sentences defendant in Hahira incident
Jan. 19—ALBANY — A Coffee County, Georgia, resident with a violent criminal past was sentenced to prison Thursday for illegally possessing a firearm during a car chase that ended in the Hahira Police Department parking lot.
Bryan Everal Pittman, 33, of Fargo, was sentenced to serve 110 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Louis Sands after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on Oct. 3, according to a release from the US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia. Pittman is not eligible for parole.
According to court documents and other evidence, Hahira Police Department officers observed a white van and another car quickly enter the police department's parking lot on May 26, 2022. Occupants of the van told officers the other vehicle was chasing them, and one said someone in the other car had pointed a gun at them.
Pittman and two other people were in the second vehicle that entered the police department parking lot, the US Attorney's Office said. As officers investigated the allegations, they found a .380 semi-automatic pistol and a methamphetamine pipe in the car.
The US Attorney's Office said the firearm belonged to Pittman.
Pittman has a lengthy violent criminal history, including past state convictions for aggravated assault, terroristic threats, battery and simple assault, the US Attorney's Office said. It is illegal for a convicted felon to possess a firearm.
