Sleeping Man Guilty of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm

A St. Louis man, Jevon Strayhorn, pleaded guilty in United States District Court, East St. Louis, to Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Previously Convicted Felon, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Sentencing is scheduled for September 21, 2012. The charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both, up to 3 years’ supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. Strayhorn has been in custody since his arrest on this charge.

According to court documents, on February 20, 2011, at 6:25 a.m., in Brooklyn, Illinois, a police officer observed a Ford Thunderbird parked on the street, engine running, and Strayhorn laying slumped over in the driver seat. The officer approached the car to check on Strayhorn and saw he was sleeping and had a firearm in his lap. Two other officers arrived to assist. Strayhorn was awakened and arrested, and the firearm was secured. While being patted down, Strayhorn said he was on “federal paper” and asked the arresting officer to let him go. Strayhorn was on federal supervised release for a felony conviction occurring on November 21, 2006, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri for Possession of an Unregistered Sawed–Off Shotgun and Possession of a Firearm in a School Zone, crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

The firearm seized from Strayhorn was a DGFM, Sistema Colt, Model 1927, .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. It had one live round in the chamber and two live rounds in the magazine and functioned as designed.

The investigation was handled by the Brooklyn Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kit Morrissey.