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ALEXANDRIA, La. – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that two defendants were sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Dee D. Drell in two separate cases.

Gregory Leonard Jones, Jr., 46, of Alexandria, Louisiana, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit his interest in the firearms seized at the time of his arrest. On June 22, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a residence where Jones resided. During the search, officers recovered firearms and ammunition that Jones was not allowed to have in his possession. Jones has previous felony convictions for possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (2007), aggravated battery (2001), criminal damage and simple burglary (1996), and possession of stolen goods (1994).

The case was investigated by the ATF and Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. McCoy.

In an unrelated case, Levar Washington, 42, who is a federal inmate, was sentenced to 160 months in prison, to run consecutive to any sentence he is presently serving or yet to serve, for assaulting a correctional officer. Washington was previously sentenced in 2008 in the Central District of California to 22 years in federal prison for conspiring to levy war against the United States through terrorism and using and carrying a firearm in connection with a crime of violence.

The charges in this case stem from an incident involving Washington in October 2020 at the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Pollock, Louisiana. A correctional officer attempted to stop Washington as he walked through the metal detector when he was returning to the housing unit from the recreational yard.  Rather than stop as he was ordered to do, Washington removed an approximately 11-inch metal prison shank that he had concealed within his waistband, quickly turned around, and attacked that correctional officer, stabbing him multiple times about his arms and chest. Several correctional officers responded to the scene with pepper spray, eventually tackling Washington and securing him in restraints.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Shannon.