Three local men with serious criminal records entered guilty pleas in Federal Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Nakeeha McCroskey, Cramell Oattes and Thaddeus Daniel appeared before Federal Magistrate Court Judge Bill Carter.

They were arrested in January on charges of being felons in possession of firearms.

Prosecutor Steve Neff said they each face up to 10 years in prison. He said if they are deemed to be career criminals, they would face from 15 years to life.

The arrests came after U.S. Attorney Bill Killian recently said he was prepared to act to deal with a wave of gun violence in Chattanooga.

McCroskey was given a 23-year prison term in state court in 1995 after he entered a guilty plea to attempted first-degree murder. At the same time he was given eight years for armed robbery. He got out of prison early.

He was arrested in February 2009 on two counts of aggravated robbery and unlawfully carrying a weapon, but those charges were dismissed in the courtroom of Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern.

Oattes has an extensive criminal record dating to an attempted aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, attempted possession of crack cocaine for resale and theft in 2000 when he was 17.

He was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery in 2008, but those charges were dismissed.

In November 2009, Oattes and another man were arrested following a police pursuit along Highway 153 that ended in a crash near the exit ramp of Highways 58 and 153. Oattes and Kenneth Brooks were arrested after the vehicle that they were traveling in failed to negotiate an exit ramp and crashed into a small black car traveling from Highway 58 toward Bonny Oaks Drive. A second vehicle was struck after the initial impact of the first two.

Prior to the crash, police received a call of a burglary in progress at 1725 Bagwell Ave. Police were able to get a good suspect description and quickly locate them leaving the scene. During the pursuit, Oattes and Brooks were observed throwing a TV from their vehicle as they fled. In an attempt to end the pursuit quickly, an officer deployed spike strips, but the suspects were able to avoid them by exiting at the Highway 153/58 ramp.

Both Oattes and Brooks were charged with aggravated burglary, vandalism, theft over $500, felony evading and vehicular assault. Oattes was given a three-year sentence in that case in the courtroom of Judge Stern.

Daniel got a 12-year sentence in state court after he entered a guilty plea to six counts of aggravated robbery in 1995.

He faced a charge of first-degree murder and pleaded guilty to facilitation to commit first-degree murder. He got 20 years for that. He got out of prison early.

In 2008, Daniel was charged with two new counts of aggravated robbery as well as theft. The aggravated robbery charges were dismissed and he was convicted of theft in the courtroom of Judge Stern.

Daniel picked up new charges in state court in November 2011. They include possession of crack cocaine for resale, two counts of resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.