Florida man who allegedly threatened a child and grandmother facing up to 15 years

FLORIDA – A Florida man who reportedly threatened to commit violence to a child and grandmother has been arrested on a firearms charge.

Antonio McCray, 22, of Tarpon Springs, has been arrested following the filing of a criminal complaint charging him with possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

If convicted, McCray faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. McCray made his initial appearance on June 21, 2023, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone and was ordered detained pending trial.

According to the complaint and evidence introduced during his detention hearing, on October 29, 2022, McCray was a passenger in the backseat of a vehicle that was pulled over by deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. The deputies said they observed and seized a firearm located under the back side of the front passenger seat, underneath McCray’s feet.

Allegedly, the firearm, a loaded 9-millimeter Springfield “Hellcat” pistol, had previously been reported stolen.

A search warrant executed on McCray’s phone reportedly revealed various messages sent by McCray, including one in which he allegedly wrote, “listen bra if u care about ur son an ur grandma have my money by Thursday…or I’m coming for u n ur family.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, DNA swabs taken from the Hellcat pistol matched McCray’s DNA. Additionally, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it determined that the ammunition found inside the pistol matched the casings utilized in a recent drive-by shooting in Hernando County.

A complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes is prosecuting it.