![Michael Steven Pollard Jr. [Credit: HCSO]](https://www.hernandosun.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/pollard.jpg "pollard")
A Hernando County man has been sentenced to serve a total of five years in the Florida Department of Corrections for his 2023 arrest on firearm charges and a witness intimidation charge made this month.
Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson said that the sentence stems from a 2023 arrest when in April 2023, deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) answered a call reporting that 38-year-old Michael Steven Pollard Jr. was attempting to retrieve his belongings from a residence that he shared with a previous partner who had an injunction against Pollard, Gladson said.
At the scene, witnesses told deputies that Pollard was allowed to take some possessions from the home, but they asked what would happen to a safe that belonged to Pollard that contained firearms.
Further investigation revealed that Pollard was convicted as a felon in the state of Indiana.
When he was questioned, Pollard told investigators that he and the witness had traveled to Indiana to retrieve the safe from his father under the agreement that the witness and his father had made.
His father later told investigators that Pollard’s statements to them were false and that Pollard was not allowed to retrieve the safe until other investigators were able to access its contents, which were unreachable because the safe had a missing pin pad.
Days later, the witness turned over five firearms, one of which was reported stolen from Hendricks County, Indiana.
After local authorities in Indiana verified that the gun was stolen, the HCSO obtained an arrest warrant for Pollard.
Law enforcement learned that on March 3 and 4, Pollard had messaged the witness in the case, threatening to inflict harm if the witness showed up to testify in a March 6 trial.
On March 6, Pollard was arraigned during an emergency hearing. Shortly before noon the same day, he was sentenced by Hon. Judge Merritt Jr on felony charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm, and tampering with a witness.
