Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

NEW ORLEANS — Keaton Manghane, 24, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was sentenced on Jan. 23 by U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance, after previously pleading guilty to possessing a machinegun in violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Sections 922(o) and 924(a)(2) to 20 months' imprisonment, to run consecutively to any sentence ultimately imposed on his unrelated pending charges in Tennessee. This term of imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release. He also faces payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

According to court documents, Manghane was carrying a loaded handgun equipped with a Glock auto-sear in his pocket, while walking on Bourbon Street around 2:00 a.m. on Feb. 21, 2023, Mardi Gras Day. The auto-sear device turned the semi-automatic firearm into a fully-automatic machinegun. After Manghane’s arrest, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tested the firearm and confirmed that it functioned as a machinegun.

This case 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 of Justice 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.

This case was investigated by ATF. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Berman of the Violent Crime Unit.

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