A Turlock man previously convicted for a firearm offense is headed to prison after he was caught illegally selling guns, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Raymond Matthew Vance, 30, of Turlock and Fresno, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to four years and six months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for violating the terms of his federal probation, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Feb. 4, 2020, Vance sold two firearms to an individual and two days later sold an additional firearm. Vance was previously convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Eastern District of California in 2019, and was serving a probationary sentence for that offense at the time that he possessed the firearms.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Turlock Police Department, the Modesto Police Department, the Tracy Police Department, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office, and the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Schuh is prosecuting the case.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.