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Man sentenced to two years in gun case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who insisted he’s innocent even though a jury convicted him in October of having an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle – despite a juvenile court conviction that bars him from having or being around firearms – was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison.
Judge Anthony D’Apolito handed down the sentence in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to Arthur Tarver, 19, who was convicted on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm as well as a charge of possession of drugs.
Members of the Youngstown Police Department vice squad found the AR-15, as well as a .40-caliber handgun with an extended magazine and a synthetic cannabinoid along with various rounds of ammunition and a safe that had to be pried open. They were serving a search warrant investigating drug activity in May at a home on East Judson Avenue.
Tarver said he was staying at the home and several other people were there and that the guns, ammunition and drugs weren’t his.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris asked for a sentence of four years, saying that Tarver had an “arsenal” in his home. Mark Lavelle, Tarver’s lawyer, asked for a sentence of a year, saying his client still maintains his innocence. Lavelle said his client also has no adult criminal record.
Tarver apologized to the court.
Judge D’Apolioto said even though Tarver said he is innocent, he was around guns and drugs, both things he cannot be around since he has a juvenile felony conviction. He said he hoped Tarver will learn to stay away from those things in the future, because at only 19, he is still very young.
“There were weapons and there were drugs, and you were around them,” Judge D’Apolito said. “That’s undeniable.”