Porolee gets 15-plus years on gun, meth charges

MACON – United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Charles Peeler said a parolee with multiple prior felony convictions was sentenced to a total of 188 months in prison for illegally possessing firearms and distributing methamphetamine.

Clifton Eugene Peterman, 51, of Eatonton, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self to 120 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and 188 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, to run concurrently for a total term of 188 months in prison. This federal sentence will run consecutively to his state sentence from Putnam County. There is no parole in the federal system.

Peterman was on parole following a 2015 conviction in the Superior Court of Putnam County for possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon when deputies and officers with the Department of Community Supervisions conducted a legal search of his home, per the terms of Peterman’s parole. Officers found five firearms, including one semi-automatic rifle, one caliber lever action rifle, two semiautomatic pistols and .38spl caliber revolver. Officers also seized methamphetamine that Peterman admitted he was intending to sell.

Peterman has multiple prior felony convictions. In addition to the 2015 conviction named above, Peterman was convicted on Oct. 6, 2005 in the Superior Court of Jones County, Ga., for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Peterman also was convicted on March 21, 2006 in the Middle District of Georgia for possession of a sawed-off shotgun.

“The defendant is a career criminal that clearly has no respect for the law and has shown no remorse for his past crimes,” Peeler said in a news release “He will now spend the next 15 years in a federal prison, where there is no parole, and he will no longer be free to wreak havoc in our community. I want to thank the Department of Community Supervision, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI for their work in this case.”

“Peterman will get yet another chance to turn his life around in prison, and if not, the communities he has preyed upon can at least take solace that he won’t be able to threaten their well-being for a long time,” Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said. 

The investigation was conducted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. The case is also part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.

The case was investigated by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard prosecuted the case for the government.

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