Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis rapper pleaded guilty Tuesday in the middle of his jury trial to a felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Arthur Pressley, a.k.a. 30 Deep Grimeyy or Grimeyy, was a convicted felon when he and others were stopped by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers on Jan. 5, 2021 in a 2008 Pontiac G8. The Pontiac had a taillight out and had license plates registered to a Jeep.

Police found a Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol between Pressley and a fellow occupant of the car. Pressley admitted as part of his plea agreement possessing the gun a number of times between Oct. 4, 2021, the day after it was purchased, and the date of the traffic stop.

Investigators also found pictures of Pressley and the gun on the social media accounts of Pressley and others and in Pressley’s phone, including one in which the partial serial number of the gun could be seen. Pressley also discusses the gun in messages.

Pressley, as a convicted felon, is barred from possessing firearms. He was twice convicted of a charge of unlawful use of a weapon.

Prosecutors will argue at Pressley’s sentencing that after the traffic stop, he began sending text messages to the original purchaser of the gun. Pressley asked that man to falsify a bill of sale to one of the other occupants of the Pontiac.

Pressley, 25, of St. Louis, is scheduled to be sentenced February 1. The gun charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been investigating Pressley and his gang, 30 Deep, for over a year at the time of the traffic stop.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassandra Wiemken and Jennifer Szczucinski are prosecuting the case.