About three months after he was arrested at a security checkpoint in the Cannon House Office Building, Ronald Prestage pleaded guilty to two District of Columbia gun charges.  

The South Carolina pork executive’s defense attorney appeared in a downtown D.C. courthouse on Tuesday morning to file guilty pleas to charges of possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.  

Prestage initially faced charges of carrying a pistol outside a home or business — a felony that carries up to five years in prison and $5,000 fine. Under the terms of a plea agreement with U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr., offered after a court ruling dismantled D.C. gun laws, penalties were much lighter.  

D. C. Superior Court Associate Judge John McCabe sentenced Prestage to 30 days in jail, but suspended the sentence, meaning he would not be locked up. Prestage has been ordered to serve six months unsupervised probation, which means he is not required to report to a probation officer. McCabe ordered Prestage to pay $100 in court costs by the end of the year and comply with gun offender registration requirements, according to court documents.  

Capitol Police found a loaded semi-automatic pistol and magazine in Prestage’s briefcase on July 23 — only a few days after cops arrested Capitol Hill aide Ryan Shucard after finding a 9mm handgun in his bag. Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., reinstated Shucard as his press secretary in late September following a similar plea agreement.  

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