MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 35-year-old Maplewood man, with a history of felonies, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison after admitting to being in possession of a gun, the Department of Justice said.
Derek Lee Preston pleaded guilty in February to possession a firearm. District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced Preston to 180 months in prison.
In his plea agreement, Preston admitted to possessing a .32-caliber revolver on Jan. 25, 2011, when he was a passenger in a car pulled over by a Minneapolis police officer. In a search during the traffic stop, the officer found the revolver on Preston, the Justice Department said, as well as 7.5 grams of marijuana and about four grams of crack cocaine.
Preston has been convicted, the Justice Department said, of the following crimes in Hennepin County: “unlawful possession of a pistol (1997), attempted first-degree aggravated robbery (1997), fifth-degree controlled substance crimes (1999 and 2009), a second-degree controlled substance crime (2001), terroristic threats (2005), violation of a no-contact order (2009), attempted violation of a no-contact order (2009), and domestic assault (2010).”
Because Preston is a felon, he is prohibited by federal law from possessing a gun.
