A Lexington resident has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

Jerry Ward Galloway, 47-year old Lexington resident, was sentenced after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

A release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina states that Galloway was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to convictions for burglary offense, financial transaction card theft, possession of crack cocaine, distribution of methamphetamine, three counts of manufacturing of methamphetamine, and possession with the intent to distribute heroin.

According to the release, the U.S. Marshal Service Fugitive Task Force located Galloway at a local hotel, where he was arrested due to an outstanding warrant. During the arrest, agents noticed several plastic bags, and with a search warrant discovered a marijuana grinder, more plastic bags, a marijuana pipe, a scale, a glass jar containing marijuana and a firearm with three magazines.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Galloway to the eight-year prison term, to be followed by three years of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.

The release states that Galloway's case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. 

According to the release, this case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force, and the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney William K. Witherspoon prosecuted the case.