United States Attorney Peter M. McCoy, Jr., announced Wednesday that Brandon Thompson, 33, of Columbia, was sentenced to nearly 22 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. 
Evidence presented to the court showed that on the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2017, deputies with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department responded to a 911 call referencing a home invasion on Maple View Drive. Upon approaching the residence, deputies noticed the door open, entered the home, and found 2 armed men, Brandon Thompson and his co-defendant Quintrell Morris. After detaining both Thompson and Morris, deputies located a female, who had been tied up, and her children, one of whom had called 911. The female advised that they had forced her to open a safe and give them the money from it. Deputies seized a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun from Thompson and a loaded Bushmaster AR-15 .223 caliber assault rifle from Morris. A ballistic vest was also seized from Thompson’s vehicle, which was located nearby. The investigation revealed that Thompson and Morris went to this home in an effort to rob the homeowners of proceeds from various businesses they operated.
Thompson was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition based upon prior state convictions for armed robbery, assault with intent to kill, and carjacking. At the time of the federal offense, Thompson had just been released from state prison 9 months earlier after serving a 14-year sentence.
United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Thompson to 262 months in federal prison, to be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. Co-defendant Morris previously plead guilty to his role and was sentenced to 272 months imprisonment with a 5-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), 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. Assistant United States Attorney Stacey D. Haynes of the Columbia office handled the prosecution.