Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – An Eldridge, Iowa, man, Marius Avant, 26, of the 0-100 block of Manor Drive, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on December 14, 2021, for possessing a firearm as a felon.

Avant had pleaded guilty to the offense on August 12, 2021. The government presented evidence at his sentencing establishing that authorities arrested Avant after he escaped from federal custody. Task force officers with the U.S. Marshals Service located Avant at a residence in Rock Island, Illinois, and boxed in his car as he and another individual attempted to flee. When investigators took Avant into custody, they found a stolen revolver on his car seat and multiple boxes of ammunition on the floorboard.

At Avant’s sentencing hearing, the government sought a sentence of 60 months (five years) – above Avant’s advisory guideline range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines – based on Avant’s offense conduct and criminal history, which included a prior federal firearms conviction.

In imposing the five-year sentence, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Sara Darrow stated that Avant had put himself in a volatile situation and posed “an absolute risk to the public.” 

The statutory penalties for possession of a firearm by a felon up to ten years in prison and no more than three years of supervised release.

The Rock Island Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grant Hodges and Alyssa Raya represented the government in the prosecution.