Richland County, South Carolina – A Richland County man will spend the next decade in federal prison after authorities determined he unlawfully possessed a firearm and ammunition despite a history of felony convictions.
Jacob Lloyd Lower, 31, received a 10-year federal sentence after investigators uncovered the circumstances surrounding a chaotic incident that unfolded in April 2022. According to evidence presented in court, officers with the Irmo Police Department were dispatched on April 25 of that year after reports of a single-vehicle crash.
While officers were en route, new information emerged suggesting the driver had begun attacking a passerby who had stopped to help following the collision. Witnesses also reported that the same individual was attempting to take another vehicle.
When law enforcement reached the scene, a witness pointed officers toward a man wearing a blood-stained white shirt who had fled into a nearby wooded area. Authorities quickly began searching for the suspect, later identified as Lower. During the search, officers learned that he had also tried to steal a truck from a nearby parking lot but failed before continuing his escape on foot.
A K-9 unit from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department soon joined the search and followed a trail leading into the woods, where officers discovered the discarded white shirt. Lower was located not far from that spot and taken into custody.
During the arrest, authorities found several types of drugs in his possession, along with a .22-caliber pistol and approximately 300 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition. Because Lower had prior convictions—including criminal conspiracy, second-degree burglary, grand larceny, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine—federal law prohibited him from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Lower to 120 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Federal sentences do not include the possibility of parole.
The case formed part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence through coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked alongside the Irmo Police Department and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William K. Witherspoon.
