Arizona convicted felon sentenced to 5 years in prison for illegally possessing guns

PHOENIX — An Arizona convicted felon was sentenced to over five years in prison for illegally possessing guns and ammunition, authorities said Tuesday.

John Gehman Howard, 60, received a 63-month sentence last week following his conviction in May, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced.

FBI agents raided Howard’s home in Kingman in October 2019 and found 23 firearms and about 7,600 rounds of ammunition.

The guns included revolvers, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.

One of the weapons was a semi-auto “ghost gun,” meaning it had been made privately.

The receiver of that gun was forged in Australia and the completed weapon had traveled from Washington to Arizona.

Howard had previously been convicted in federal court in Washington state in 2010 for false statements and harboring or concealing a fugitive.

When he was indicted for that felony, the FBI said he was a Patriot Movement member — aka Sovereign Citizen — who claimed that the federal government has no authority over him.

The FBI conducted the investigation that led to his latest incarceration in accordance with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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