Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Fabian Jones, 29, Beloit, Wisconsin was sentenced on Friday, September 10 by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to four years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Jones pleaded guilty to this charge on June 16, 2021.

On March 15, 2020, Beloit police were investigating a reported disturbance and had contact with Jones, who consented to a search of his residence. In Jones’s bedroom, officers found a holster, laser sight for a gun, and a magazine chest carrier. Officers found three different types of ammunition in the kitchen, and a small safe in the basement. Jones was arrested and made phone calls from the jail talking about a gun in the safe and asking others to take responsibility for it. Officers later obtained a search warrant for the safe and found a loaded .40 caliber handgun and a spare magazine inside.

Jones has a previous felony conviction for a weapons offense in Illinois state court. In addition, he was convicted in federal court in the Western District of Wisconsin in 2015 of distributing cocaine and was sentenced to four years in prison.

At sentencing Judge Peterson remarked that Jones was still on federal supervision on the drug offense and had violated conditions of that release. Judge Peterson said that sentence was designed to punish Jones and deter him from having a gun in the future.

The charge against Jones was the result of an investigation conducted by the Beloit Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan.