Shreveport - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that Rabanni W. Saleem, also known as Robert W. Brown, 59, of Shreveport, La., was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm on two different occasions. Saleem has two prior felony convictions, including a 2010 federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Saleem committed two additional crimes while he was on supervised release for his prior federal firearms conviction.

Evidence presented at trial showed that on November 23, 2011, Shreveport Police officers responded to a 911 call from a customer at a convenience store located on East 70th Street in Shreveport advising that Saleem had pulled out a firearm and pointed it at a customer. Police arrived, placed Saleem under arrest, and seized a 9 mm semi-automatic firearm used by Saleem. Further investigation revealed that on April 26, 2011, Saleem was observed in possession of this same firearm at the same store.

Saleem’s sentencing is set for November 1, 2012, before United States District Judge Tom Stagg. The penalty for being a felon in possession of a firearm is a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a term of not more than three years supervised release upon release from prison or a fine of not more than $250,000, and forfeiture of the firearm.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide program which began in 2001 designed to reduce violence by aggressively enforcing existing federal firearms laws. The case was investigated by the Shreveport Police and the Shreveport office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert W. Gillespie, Jr.