Paducah, KY - A federal grand jury in Paducah, Kentucky, returned an indictment on Jan. 10, 2023, charging a Murfreesboro, Tennessee man with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Maynard of the ATF Louisville Field Division made the announcement.
According to the indictment, Arsenio R. Rhodes, 32, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was charged with one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Rhodes was prohibited from owning a firearm because of two previous felony convictions for trafficking for sexual servitude in Shelby County, Tennessee.
Rhodes made his initial court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Tennessee on March 2, 2023. He appeared in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on March 20, 2023. If convicted, Rhodes faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is being investigated by the ATF Bowling Green Field Office with assistance from the Hopkinsville Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leigh Ann Dycus, of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys