Domestic Violence Offender Sentenced for Firearms Conviction

ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA - A Petersburg, West Virginia, man was sentenced for illegally having multiple firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey.

Joseph Nathaniel Hartman, 43, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison. During a response to a domestic violence incident at a home in Grant County, Hartman was found with a rifle. A subsequent search of his home resulted in the seizure of two additional rifles, a shotgun, and a pistol. Hartman is prohibited from having firearms because of prior felony firearms and drug convictions and a prior domestic battery conviction.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the West Virginia State Police; and the Grant County Sheriff's Office investigated.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, and repel the invasion of illegal immigration.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.