A former San Francisco jail inmate who had a romantic relationship with a sheriff's deputy has been sentenced in federal court to two years and six months in prison for illegal possession of her gun.
Antoine Fowler, 34, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco and ordered to self-surrender to begin serving his term on March 31. He pleaded guilty last year to a charge of being being an ex-felon in possession of a gun.
Fowler and former Deputy April Myres had a relationship that began while he was in jail on a gun conviction and continued when he lived with her for two months after his release in January 2016, according to court documents.
When the couple broke up after a fight, Fowler ended up with her Sheriff's Department-issued Glock pistol. Prosecutors contended in a sentencing brief that it is uncertain whether he obtained the gun by consent or theft, while defense attorney Kenneth Wine said Myres gave him the gun for his protection after telling him he was in danger of being targeted as an informant.
Fowler was arrested with the gun 10 months later.
Myres, 56, of San Francisco was separately convicted in a jury trial last year of wire and mail fraud in connection with insurance claims for items she said were stolen on March 24-25, 2016, the night of the couple's breakup. Several of items she claimed, including the gun, belonged to the Sheriff's Department.
She was sentenced by Seeborg to one year and two months in prison.
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Wine argued in a defense sentencing brief that Fowler was a victim of sexual abuse, manipulation and abuse of government power by Myres.
Prosecutors argued that no matter how Fowler obtained the gun, he "made a deliberate and criminal decision to possess the firearm for his own purposes for nearly a year after the end of his relationship with Deputy Myres."
