Cahokia Man Sentenced for Firearm Offense
A Cahokia man, Jamal A. Burgess, 28, was sentenced in United States District Court, East St. Louis, for 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. Burgess was sentenced to 30 months in prison, a $250 fine, a $100 special assessment, and ordered to serve 3 years on supervised release after his prison term. Finally, he was ordered to forfeit the firearm he possessed. There is no parole in the federal system. Burgess has been in custody since December 29, 2011.
According to court documents, on November 30, 2011, members of the WAVE (Working Against Violent Elements) task force were patrolling East St. Louis and responded to a report involving the recovery of a stolen vehicle at the Orr Weathers Public Housing Complex. Members of the task force eventually searched an apartment in the building and located Jamal Burgess resting in bed recovering from a gunshot wound. During a search of the apartment, officers seized four firearms, magazines and numerous rounds of ammunition from the apartment. One of the firearms, a Remington 20–gauge, semi–automatic sawed–off shotgun, was recovered from under the mattress in which Jamal Burgess was resting.
Burgess has a prior felony conviction for Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon which occurred on December 10, 2010, in St. Clair County, Illinois, and is thus prohibited from possessing firearms. Another man admitted possession of one of the other firearms and was sentenced in federal court earlier this week.
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
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