A 37-year-old San Antonio man with a long rap sheet of violent convictions is headed to federal prison for nearly a decade after police found him carrying a loaded 9mm handgun stuffed in a bag alongside a black ski mask, long-sleeved shirt, and sweatpants. Jovan Antwone Flemings was sentenced to 115 months behind bars for being a felon in possession of a firearm, a sentence that works out to more than nine years once he enters federal custody.
Flemings was taken into custody in May 2024 on multiple outstanding state warrants, according to WOAI. At the time of his arrest, he had a 9mm handgun loaded with an extended 20-round magazine and a round already chambered, the outlet reports, and the firearm was discovered inside a bag that also contained a black ski mask, a black long-sleeved shirt, and black sweatpants — items that read like the makings of a robbery or burglary kit.
Flemings pleaded guilty on May 6, 2025, to one count of felon in possession of a firearm, per the station's report. He wasn't a first-time offender by any measure: he had four prior aggravated assault convictions, along with convictions for making terroristic threats, robbery, and drug possession, as well as an earlier state conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm himself.
A Federal Statute With Teeth
The felon-in-possession charge Flemings pleaded to, under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), carries a far steeper penalty than it once did. Congress raised the statute's maximum prison term from 10 years to 15 years under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law in 2022, according to a United States Sentencing Commission primer — meaning Flemings's 115-month sentence sits close to the old ceiling but still well short of today's maximum.
Federal law addresses good-conduct-time calculations under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), according to the Criminal Defense Authority.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons leads the Western District of Texas, the federal prosecutor's office that brought the case. His office oversees federal prosecutions across the Western District of Texas, stretching from San Antonio to Austin to El Paso, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Fedock and Sarah Wannarka prosecuted the case, per WOAI, and the case was investigated jointly by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the San Antonio Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown
The case was handled under Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice program that brings together federal prosecutors, local police, and federal law enforcement agencies to promote public safety.
Flemings's sentencing arrives as federal authorities in the region keep leaning harder on gun charges to put repeat offenders away for longer stretches than state courts typically allow. In August, Simmons announced an ongoing surge in federal violent crime prosecutions across the Western District of Texas aimed at felon-in-possession, illegal machine gun, and drug trafficking cases, according to the Justice Department.
Flemings's term is notably lighter than another recent regional case: a 39-year-old Crystal City man with ties to organized crime was handed the statutory maximum of 180 months, or 15 years, for a similar felon-in-possession charge, as Hoodline previously reported.
Sentencing Lands Amid Falling Crime Numbers
Flemings's prosecution unfolds against the backdrop of a city that has seen real gains in public safety. Citywide violent street crime in San Antonio fell 21.1% in 2025 compared to the year before, under the San Antonio Police Department's Violent Crime Reduction Plan, according to a Year 3 evaluation by University of Texas at San Antonio criminologists cited by the San Antonio Report. That same UTSA evaluation found violent street crime plunged 63.2% inside targeted high-crime hot spots that were treated every 60 days in 2025, with researchers finding no evidence the crime simply shifted to nearby neighborhoods.
A Council on Criminal Justice analysis found homicides fell 18% across 30 cities.
The Department of Justice reported Flemings's sentence in a release, closing out a case that began with Flemings's arrest on multiple outstanding state warrants.
