Sacramento, California - Robert James Hanna, 38, of Elk Grove, was sentenced to eight years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, on Oct. 4, 2019, several witnesses called 911 to report a fight in progress at an intersection in Vacaville. The callers reported that Hanna and another man and two women were involved in a melee, and one of the witnesses saw a gun fall from Hanna’s clothing during the incident. Court records state that Hanna hit the man in the face several times, and at least one of the victims reported that Hanna threatened to shoot him. Hanna and a female companion fled the scene and were arrested at a nearby home-improvement store moments later. The female companion had a 9 mm pistol in her pants at the time. The companion said that Hanna had given her the gun and told her to go inside. One of the victims identified the gun as the one he saw in Hanna’s clothing during the altercation. Hanna cannot lawfully possess firearms or ammunition because he has previously been convicted of two felony offenses in Solano County for assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Vacaville Police Department, with special assistance from the FBI’s Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force and the Solano County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, go to www.justice.gov/psn.