Main Kidnapping Suspect in Gabrielle Swainson’s Disappearance Sentenced for Ammo in Home
Freddie Grant, the only kidnapping suspect in Gabrielle Swainson’s disappearance in August last year, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for being a convincted felon who owned ammunition. He has not yet gone to trial for Swainson’s kidnapping.
During a raid on Grant’s home to find evidence related to Swainson’s disappearance and possible kidnapping, officers discovered that Grant owned a box of shotgun shells, and a box of .38 caliber bullets. He was arrested on federal criminal charges for being a felon in possession of ammunition.
US District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie said that she gave Grant a longer sentence than anticipated, because he has a long history of serious criminal behavior. According to reports, he has committed armed crimes since he was 20 years old. While in the army and stationed in Korea, he was convicted of assault with grievous bodily harm, as well as kidnapping. He was also convicted of possession with intent to distribute in South Carolina.
Kidnapping Suspect Pressures Daughter Into Perjury
In addition to the kidnapping charges Grant already faces, as well as the 17-year sentence he will serve for federal ammunition crimes, Grant has also been accused of pressuring his daughter, Dominique Grant, into lying for him in court.
So far, Dominique has not been charged with perjury, although evidence shows that she lied on her father’s behalf in court.
During the ammunition crimes trial, Dominique claimed that the bullets found at her father’s home were her’s, and she stored them at his house while she moved around between college and her early working career. She said that she left the ammo in bags and boxes in a bedroom in her father’s house. However, investigators took pictures of where they found the ammunition on the scene, and the bullets were on the nightstand while the shotgun shells were on the bottom shelf of an end table.
If Dominique was not lying and the ammo did belong to her, her testimony still damaged her father’s case because he knew the ammunition was in his home, he was a convicted felon, and he moved the ammunition from room to room anyway.
Prosecutors suspected that Grant had cooked up the story, and used audio recordings from phone conversations between him and his daughter recorded at the Lexington County Detention Center. In the month before the federal ammunition crimes trial, Grant referred to “a checklist,” and repeatedly told his daughter to take care of it, and not discuss it on the phone.
Dominique Grant has declined to discuss the perjury accusations.
The Strom Law Firm Prosecutes Criminals On Behalf of Kidnapping Victims
If you or a loved one are the victims of a serious crime, including kidnapping, it is important that you take the person who hurt you to court – whether it is a criminal trial, orpersonal injury lawsuit. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm have been based in Columbia, SC for 16 years, and are also licensed to practice in Georgia and New York. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so do not hesitate to contact us for help. 803.252.4800.
