Timothy Shane Postell

Introduction

Timothy Shane Postell is a 40-year-old man from Bessemer, Alabama, whose record of felony convictions made every firearm he carried a federal crime — and who was caught carrying them anyway, twice, in incidents separated by nearly four years. In the first, police responding to a retail store found him on a couch with a loaded pistol in his waistband along with stolen goods and narcotics. In the second, he led an officer on a reckless chase before running on foot, getting tackled, and being found with two loaded pistols on his person while his car held a rifle, body armor plates, and methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco sentenced him to 130 months — nearly eleven years — in federal prison.

Background Information

Postell’s prohibition on firearms rests on four prior felony convictions spanning 2007 to 2021. In Georgia, the Superior Court of Paulding County convicted him in February 2007 of robbery by intimidation, theft by taking, and aggravated assault, and again in September 2013 of possession of cocaine. In Alabama, the Circuit Court of Jefferson County convicted him in May 2014 of second-degree robbery, and the District Court of Shelby County convicted him in February 2021 of third-degree burglary. The investigation leading to the federal case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives together with the Leeds Police Department and the Hueytown Police Department, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Darius C. Greene.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Timothy Shane Postell pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in two separate cases and was sentenced by Judge Anna M. Manasco to 130 months in federal prison.

The first incident came on April 16, 2022, when an officer with the Leeds Police Department responded to a call at a retail store in Leeds. The officer found a female and Postell on a couch, both appearing to be under the influence of narcotics, and arrested them for public intoxication. A search of Postell recovered a stolen pair of tennis shoes, narcotics, and a loaded SCCY 9mm pistol. That gun, in the hands of a four-time felon, became the first of the two federal firearms cases that were later resolved together by plea.

The second incident showed how little the first had deterred. On February 7, 2026, an officer with the Hueytown Police Department initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle Postell was driving. As the officer approached, Postell fled recklessly — speeding, passing vehicles with oncoming traffic, and passing in no-passing zones — until he stopped at the end of a dirt road, exited, and ran. An officer deployed a taser with no effect, then closed the distance and tackled him. Postell was carrying a loaded Canik 9mm pistol in one inside jacket pocket and a loaded Glock 10mm pistol in the other. A search of his vehicle recovered a loaded Marlin .22 rifle, body armor plates, methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in both unrelated cases, and Judge Manasco imposed a single 130-month sentence.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew sharp statements from the officials who built it. U.S. Attorney Phillip W. Williams Jr. said keeping firearms out of the hands of convicted felons is critical to protecting communities, that Postell “repeatedly demonstrated disregard for the law,” and that the 130-month sentence “sends a clear message that illegal firearm possession by repeat offenders will have serious consequences.” ATF Special Agent in Charge James VanVliet called Postell “a four-time convicted felon” who “showed a pattern of criminal behavior in this case, illegally possessing firearms in multiple incidents,” and pledged that ATF would continue pursuing people who demonstrate “a propensity for lawlessness and recklessness.” The sentence is the consequence: nearly eleven years in federal prison for possession counts that exist only because of the four convictions already on his record.

Current Status

Postell is a sentenced federal inmate serving 130 months. The sentence followed his guilty pleas in two separate and unrelated firearms cases — the 2022 Leeds store arrest and the 2026 Hueytown pursuit — and was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco. The February 7, 2026, stop that produced the second conviction also generated evidence of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle, which the release records as part of the same event. There is no parole in the federal system, so the term will be served at good-conduct-adjusted rates, and the release does not report an appeal. His prohibition on firearms, founded on convictions from 2007 through 2021, now runs alongside a federal sentence that will keep him in custody into his early fifties.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Postell’s file is a case study in how a prohibition order compounds: each of his four prior felonies made the next gun a federal offense, and each gun incident made the resulting sentence harder. The Leeds arrest cost him a loaded SCCY and his freedom for a short cycle; the Hueytown chase cost him two loaded pistols, a rifle, body armor, a drug stash, and nearly eleven years. At 40, the sentence places most of his remaining working life inside the Bureau of Prisons, and the supervised-release term that follows will put his conduct under federal supervision once he is out. The release’s own framing — repeat offenders facing serious consequences — is the arc of the record: a man repeatedly caught armed, now sentenced as one.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama, “Four-Time Convicted Felon Sentenced to More than 10 Years in Prison for Illegal Possession of Multiple Firearms,” November 2026. source