Fluvanna men get time for firearms charges

Two Fluvanna County felons who authorities said are involved in a property theft ring will serve prison time for possessing firearms.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon on Monday 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.

On April 4, 2008, authorities were preparing to execute a search warrant on Shifflett’s Cedar Hill Road home in Palmyra in connection with more than 50 thefts in 13 localities in Virginia and West Virginia. Shifflett and Morris were driving a camper when a law-enforcement officer stopped them and found two guns inside. According to an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury, the men were accused of taking other firearms that were reported stolen from Bath County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Huber has said both men have been convicted of more than 10 felonies since the 1980s. In Charlottesville’s federal court on Monday, Huber said 48-year-old Morris has racked up more than 30 convictions in the last 30 years, half of which have been for breaking and entering and grand larceny.

Neither man chose to say anything before being sentenced Monday.

More than 200 items were seized last year from Shifflett’s house. According to a search warrant filed in Fluvanna, the items included tools, electronics, guns, appliances, silverware, jewelry, shoes, glass change jars and a lunch box.

Both Shifflett and Morris were sentenced last year to 10-year active prison sentences in Bath for breaking into homes and stealing items. Shifflett also was sentenced to 15 months in jail for attacking his accuser before a preliminary hearing in Charlottesville General District Court.

In addition to prison time, Moon sentenced the men Monday to five years of supervised release. The judge ruled that the men would serve their federal sentences concurrently with their other prison terms handed down in state courts.

The men face more charges in connection with the incident. Both were indicted in Augusta County on a firearm theft charge and two counts each of grand larceny and entering a home to commit a felony. Shifflett, 46, also faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced next month in Fluvanna Circuit Court for breaking into a home and stealing jewelry and antique guns.