Former employee of city Violence Prevention Office pleads guilty to gun charge
Morris Hobson, 35, had let his license to carry a firearm expire. He told a judge he intended to renew it, but then life got busy.
A former employee in the city’s Office of Violence Prevention pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor count of carrying a firearm without a license.
Prosecutors say Morris Hobson, 35, let his license to carry expire and would otherwise have been able to legally carry a gun. He was sentenced to two years’ probation after a brief court proceeding in which the judge noted that former Mayor Michael Nutter had submitted a letter of support on Hobson’s behalf.
Deputy Attorney General Katherine McDermott said she found it ironic that Hobson worked in a city job to prevent gun violence and was found carrying an unlicensed, loaded firearm.
Hobson was driving on the 6700 block of Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy in May when police stopped him for having dark-tinted windows, McDermott told the judge. He told the officers that he had a firearm in his car and his license was expired. They recovered a fully loaded gun from his center console and took him into custody. He was released the next day on $25,000 unsecured bail.
At the time, he was working as a coalition manager for Philly Counts, the city’s program to ensure people were counted in the 2020 Census. He did not disclose his arrest when he transferred in June to work as the group violence intervention coordinator for the city’s Office of Violence Prevention. He was placed on unpaid leave in September after the city learned of his arrest.
Defense attorney David Nenner said after the hearing that Hobson, who has a private cleaning business, is working as a community engagement manager for the city.