Atlanta Man Convicted by a Tallahassee Federal Jury of Illegally Possessing a Firearm as a Felon
Jonathan Deon Morehead, 38, faces up to 15 years in prison after a jury found that a loaded handgun found in his car's console during a May traffic stop was a gun he had arranged to buy months earlier.
A federal jury in Tallahassee has found an Atlanta man guilty of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Jonathan Deon Morehead, 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted following a trial in federal court in Tallahassee, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida announced on Friday, October 30.
The case began on May 28, 2026, when officers working an operation to locate possible victims of human trafficking stopped the vehicle Morehead was driving. In a probable-cause search, officers found a loaded handgun in the vehicle's center console. According to the trial testimony described in the release, Morehead told officers he was allowed to shoot firearms at gun ranges in Georgia despite his felony record and said his fingerprints and DNA would be on the gun while claiming it belonged to the vehicle's other occupant. Evidence recovered from his phone showed he had arranged the purchase of the firearm months earlier, in February 2026 - and as a convicted felon, he could not legally possess it.
Morehead faces up to 15 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for January 28, 2027, at 3 p.m. in the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle. The case was investigated jointly by the Tallahassee Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emma Schwan.
