Columbia man gets 63 months in prison for illegal gun possession
A Columbia man has been sentenced to more than five years behind bars for illegally possessing a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina announced Friday.
Nicholas Vanover, 25, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. His prison sentence will be followed by three years of court-ordered supervision.
Vanover was arrested in January 2020 after police responded to a disturbance at an apartment complex on Colleton Street, where a large crowd of gang members were gathered, prosecutors said.
He fled police, who recognized him from prior incidents and knew he carried guns, and ran into the backyard of a vacant home nearby, prosecutors said.
When an officer approached Vanover, he admitted having marijuana and was taken into custody, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Police found a small bag of marijuana and a hand-rolled marijuana cigar on his person, and upon returning to the vacant home found a loaded pistol that had been reported stolen in a crawl space under the property, authorities said.
Vanover, who had prior multiple drug convictions and could not legally possess a firearm, denied possessing the gun. However, in a subsequent jailhouse phone call to a friend, he admitted to carrying the firearm for protection, which enabled prosecutors to charge him, they said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case in concert with Columbia police.