A six-time convicted felon from Selma was sentenced 188 months of jail time.

Maurice Odell Brown, 38, was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

In February, Brown was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile.

“This was one of Selma’s biggest gang members,” said District Attorney Michael Jackson. “We were glad when he got taken off the streets then, and now we’re glad about the big sentence that he got.”

In August 2015, the Fourth Judicial Task Force of the Selma District Attorney’s Office arrested Brown during a random sweep in Keller Alley. Brown was found with a gun and was charged with probation violation and felon in possession of a firearm.

“I think [it’s] huge progress in this war on gangs and gang violence,” Jackson said. “The more these gunslingers are taken off the streets, the safer the citizens can be.”

According to a press release by the United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Alabama, the 15 year sentence was given because of Brown’s extensive criminal history.

His criminal record includes three state of Alabama convictions, two burglaries and an aggravated assault; a federal conviction in Louisiana, an accessory after the fact in connection to a kidnapping and carjacking; and two separate federal convictions in the southern district for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The eight month sentence was given for violating his federal supervised release term and the five year supervised release was given because he was an armed career criminal.

In the past two springs, the task force has swept through Selma to clear the streets of suspected gang members.

Jackson said during this year’s random sweeps, nearly 30 arrests were made.

If including last year, he suspects close to 100 gang members were taken off the streets.

“We are going to continue to this crack down on all of these gang members in Selma,” Jackson said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Mobile, the District Attorney’s task force and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office investigated the case.

“It just goes to show what happens when federal, state and local agencies work together and the progress that can be made,” Jackson said.