Palmyra men sentenced on firearms charges

Two Palmyra men accused of being involved in a property theft ring were sentenced to significant prison terms this morning for possessing firearms while being felons.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon sentenced Mark Wayne Shifflett to 11 years and nine months in prison and co-defendant Ronald Lee Morris to 14 years and nine months in prison. Moon ruled that the men would serve those sentences concurrently with their other prison terms handed down in area state courts.

Shifflett, 46, and Morris, 48, have been charged with numerous state-level charges in connection with about 50 burglaries in 13 jurisdictions in Virginia and West Virginia. Authorities pulled the men over April 4, 2008, near Shifflett’s home in Flu-vanna County. The traffic stop happened just before authorities executed a search warrant at the Cedar Hill Road home, where more than 200 sus-pected stolen items were seized.

There were two guns in the camper that the men were in, authorities said. The federal indictment against the men also refer-ences other firearms that were reported stolen from Bath County.

Morris was sentenced to a 10-year active prison sentence in Bath County last year for some break-ins. He also was sentenced to six months in jail earlier this year for cocaine possession in Fluvanna County relating to the April 4, 2008, traffic stop.

Shifflett also was sentenced to a 10-year active prison sentence in Bath County for area break-ins and an active sentence of 15 months in jail for attack-ing his accuser before a preliminary hearing in Charlottesville General District Court. He faces up to 40 years in prison for breaking into a James Madison Highway home when he is sentenced next month in Fluvanna Circuit Court.