ALBANY — A Valdosta man has pleaded guilty to carrying a firearm during a Lowndes County traffic stop, authorities said.

James Richard Shivers, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in federal court in Albany, according to a statement released Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Shivers faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. There is no parole in the federal system.

At midnight, April 13, 2020, a Hahira Police Department officer was on patrol when he saw a pickup truck driven by the defendant that did not have a license plate or any type of temporary tag attached to it and conducted a traffic stop, the statement said.

Shivers did not have insurance and the vehicle registration had been canceled in 2017, according to the statement.

The officer saw an open whiskey bottle in plain view; when the officer asked if anything illegal was in the truck, Shivers admitted having the firearm, the statement said.

Shivers had previously been convicted in Cook County Superior Court on five counts of forgery and one count of theft by taking. It is illegal for a convicted felon to possess a firearm.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.