Ex-Con Sentenced to Prison

An ex-con from Columbia will now spend the next five years in prison after police caught him with a gun.James Cheek, 31, was sentenced Wednesday on federal weapons charges. Police say he fell asleep outside a convenience store in a vehicle that was also partially parked in somebody’s yard in March 2012. Officers also found a pistol laying on the vehicle’s floorboard.According to federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Cheek has prior felony convictions for assault, unlawful use of a weapon and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident.Cheek had already pleaded guilty to the charges in October.