Tallahassee, Florida – Malcolm Akeem Holloway, 22, of Tallahassee, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “Our state and federal law enforcement partners are committed to removing dangerous, serial offenders, like this defendant, from our streets to keep our communities safe, and my office will continue to aggressively prosecute those criminals to the fullest extent of the law. The safety of our communities is not negotiable, and we must incapacitate chronic offenders, like this defendant, through robust criminal prosecutions and strict incarceration.”
Court documents reflect that, in March 2026, the Tallahassee Police Department was conducting surveillance when they observed the defendant carrying a backpack. They watched the defendant get into the front passenger seat of a vehicle that was subsequently stopped for multiple traffic infractions. A law enforcement K9 alerted to the presence of illegal contraband, which prompted a search of the vehicle. The backpack contained clothing matching the defendant’s size, a loaded FN 9 millimeter pistol which had been previously reported stolen, and two plastic shopping bags containing a combined total of 65 taped, hand-rolled cigarettes packaged in a manner typical for the introduction of contraband into correctional facilities.
A review of material from the defendant’s Instagram account from December 30, 2025, to March 2, 2026, found multiple instances of the defendant posing with various firearms.
The defendant was prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior state convictions for possession of a firearm by a delinquent, carrying a concealed firearm, three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a machinegun. Most recently, the defendant had been to prison for three years and was released on December 8, 2025, approximately three months before his arrest.
Holloway faces up to 15 years in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 11, 2026, at 10:00 am, in the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before United States District Judge Mark E. Walker.
The case involved an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Tallahassee Police Department, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James A. McCain.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF comprises agents and officers from multiple agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl .
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Northern District of Florida — U.S. Department of Justice press release.