Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Springfield, Illinois, Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Possessing a Firearm as a Felon
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Springfield, Illinois, man, Parrionte H. Wallace, 22, of the 2000 block of South 12th Street, was sentenced on August 1 to 41 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm as a felon.
According to court documents and representations in open court, on June 23, 2022, law enforcement officers from the Menard County, Illinois, Sheriff’s Office stopped Wallace while he was traveling in a car in Menard County and discovered a loaded, semi-automatic firearm with an extended magazine. The defendant told officers he had illegally purchased the firearm in Chicago. The Athens, Illinois, Police Department assisted with the stop.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless found that Wallace had possessed a stolen, loaded weapon with one round in the chamber and an extended magazine while out at 12:30 a.m. in a car with a young child. Judge Lawless further found that the defendant’s prior criminal conviction was a crime of violence.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Wallace in July 2022. Wallace pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Karen L. McNaught in March 2023.
The statutory penalties for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person at the time of Wallace’s offense were up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a possible $250,000 fine and up to a three-year term of supervised release. Congress raised the penalty for the offense of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person to 15 years’ imprisonment as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act just a few days after this offense occurred.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Illinois State Police; Menard County Sheriff’s Office; and the Athens Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Seberger represented the government in the prosecution.
The case against Wallace is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
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