A Cahokia man, Willie J. Fair, III, 24,
was sentenced in United States District Court, East St. Louis, for unlawful
possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, to 37 months in
prison, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois,
Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Fair also was also ordered to pay a $200
fine, a $100 special assessment, and to serve three years’ supervised release
following imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Fair has been
in custody since his arrest on January 23, 2012.
According to court documents, on
November 30, 2011, members of the FBI WAVE (Working Against Violent Elements)
Task Force were patrolling East St. Louis, Illinois, and responded to a report
involving the recovery of a stolen vehicle at the Orr Weathers Public Housing
Complex and a potential suspect running into Building 21. Members of the task
force knocked on an apartment door in Building 21, where they believed the
suspect ran, and were met by Fair. During a search of the apartment, officers
seized four firearms, magazines, and numerous rounds of ammunition. A Hi-Point
.380 caliber, semi-automatic pistol was recovered from a deep freezer. Fair, a
convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms, admitted he possessed the
Hi-Point pistol and placed it in the deep freezer when law enforcement arrived.
Another convicted felon in the apartment was arrested for possession of one of
the other firearms. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 29, 2012. The Hi-Point
pistol functioned as designed.
The WAVE Task Force focuses its efforts
on combating violent crime in East St. Louis, Washington Park, and surrounding
communities. WAVE was formed in November 2009 and is a collaboration of law
enforcement officers from the Illinois State Police; the Metropolitan
Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI); the East St. Louis Police
Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The WAVE Task Force receives financial
support through the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)
initiative, a nationwide federal program which endeavors to address gunrelated
violence.
The case is being handled by Assistant
United States Attorney Kit Morrissey. Steven Lupa, a law student, assisted at
the sentencing hearing.
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