PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth man will spend 15 years behind bars after he was convicted of illegally having a firearm and sending threatening messages to his ex-girlfriend over Facebook, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday.
In May 2019, officials say Robert English gave another person money to purchase him a semi-automatic gun in Chesapeake.
Weeks later during a traffic stop in Portsmouth, that gun, an attached drum magazine with 26 rounds of ammunition and a 60-round capacity were discovered in the trunk of English's vehicle.
In September of that same year, under the name "Howard Barnes" the DOJ says English sent his ex-girlfriend threatening messages via Facebook, including ones that claimed she "better be looking for the reaper” and that he would “black out your whole family.”
English's previous convictions stem from 2005 when he was charged with the attempted criminal possession of a weapon in New York.
