Clarence Brown, Felon in Possession of a Stolen Firearm, Missouri 2024

A St. Louis man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a stolen firearm.

On February 24, 2024, United States District Judge Henry E. Autrey handed down the sentence to Clarence Brown, a 35-year-old St. Louis, Missouri resident. Brown had pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The charges stem from an incident on February 24, 2024, when officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department were patrolling in the Greater Ville area. They were advised that a stolen vehicle was traveling eastbound on Natural Bridge Avenue from Kingshighway Boulevard.

Officers observed the stolen vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed in the parking lane before parking in the area of Blair Avenue and Monroe Avenue. The driver, later identified as Brown, re-entered the vehicle and began driving northbound on Blair Avenue.

Officers deployed department-issued spike strips, but Brown drove over them, accelerated at a high rate of speed, and turned onto westbound N. Florissant Avenue. While traveling northbound on Blair Avenue from Salisbury Avenue, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Detective observed Brown throw a firearm out of the stolen vehicle’s passenger side window.

The detective stopped his patrol car, exited his vehicle, and retrieved the discarded firearm, a Glock 23, .40 caliber pistol containing nine live 9mm cartridges. The recovered pistol had been reported stolen from a home in Creve Coeur, Missouri on October 16, 2019.

Before being apprehended, Brown drove in the opposite direction of travel and struck an unsuspecting driver head-on. He also ignored several police commands to stop resisting before being apprehended after a short foot pursuit. A computer search revealed that Brown was a felon and had an active warrant for his arrest.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated this case, with Assistant United States Attorney Kourtney M. Bell handling the case.

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