Midlands man escaped from police once, but now he’s going to prison, officials say
A Midlands man who escaped from law enforcement once was ultimately taken into custody and recently pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Ernest Durane Mack, aka “Marcus Mack,” was sentenced to 77 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The 35-year-old Cayce man was arrested on July 26, 2019, but not without difficulty, according to the release.
A South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper recognized the car Mack was driving on St. Andrews Road in Columbia because the trooper tried to stop it a week earlier, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The first time, the car was able to drive away, according to the release.
When the trooper again tried to pull over the vehicle, Mack didn’t stop and instead led a short chase, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Mack pulled into a nearby apartment complex, where he stopped the car and ran away, according to the release. Officers caught up with Mack in a breezeway at the apartment complex and saw him with a handgun, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Mack threw the gun at an officer, later telling law enforcement he ran from the troopers because he had the handgun in the car, according to the release.
Investigators later learned that the gun had previously been reported stolen in Spartanburg County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
No injuries were reported in the pursuit.
When Mack was arrested, he was on probation from an unrelated South Carolina charge at the time and has prior state convictions for trafficking cocaine (two separate convictions), forgery, possession of a controlled substance, failure to stop for blue light and siren, and first-degree criminal domestic violence (two separate convictions), according to the release.
Mack is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence in South Carolina on a domestic violence charge, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The federal and state sentences are not concurrent, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brook Andrews told The State. When Mack finishes his sentence on the South Carolina conviction, he’ll be transferred to begin his federal sentence, Andrews said.
In addition to that 6-plus year incarceration in federal prison, U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis also sentenced Mack to 3 years of court-ordered supervision following his release, according to the release. There is no parole in the federal system.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Highway Patrol.
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This story was originally published March 15, 2023 at 11:33 AM.
