Athens man sentenced to federal prison on gun charge

Preston Donta Davis in a 2013 Clarke County Jail booking photo

By Joe Johnson

An Athens man was recently sentenced to slightly more than three years in federal prison for an illegal firearm conviction, according to a media release from Peter D. Leary, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

On Jan. 6, in U.S. District Court in Athens, U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal sentenced Preston Donte Davis, 37, to serve 37 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after Davis pleaded guilty to one count possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

This was part of Project Guardian, the U.S. Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.

“Felons who get caught with guns will face the possibility of federal prison without parole,” Leary said. “I want to thank our local, state and federal law enforcement partners for their continued crime reduction efforts across the Middle District of Georgia.”

On May 16, 2019, officers executed a search warrant at a residence in Athens where Davis was located with two semiautomatic pistols, ammunition, drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Davis, who was previously convicted of a felony, admitted that he knew he was a prohibited person when he possessed the firearms, according to Leary.

According to Clarke County Superior Court records, Davis was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana in 2015.

The investigation was conducted by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.