Rodney Burnett, Illegal Ammunition Possession, Illinois 2021

Man Sentenced to 9+ Years in Prison for Illegally Possessing Ammunition in Chicago

A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to over nine years in federal prison for possessing ammunition illegally in Chicago.

According to a recent investigation, Rodney Burnett, of Chicago, was found in possession of four rounds of .40-caliber ammunition on May 15, 2018. At the time, Burnett was driving a stolen vehicle and fleeing the scene of a recent shooting in the area of Garfield Park.

During a high-speed chase by the Chicago Police, Burnett crashed his car at the intersection of Hamlin and Jackson Boulevards. He, along with two passengers, then fled on foot and discarded two firearms before being apprehended by CPD officers.

Burnett pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegal possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. The U.S. District Judge, John Z. Lee, found that, in addition to possessing the ammunition, the government met its burden in proving that Burnett possessed a firearm and was involved in the nearby shooting.

Burnett had previously been convicted in state court of a felony criminal offense and was not legally allowed to possess ammunition or a firearm. As a result, he was sentenced to 110 months in federal prison on April 27, 2021.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katie M. Durick.

The case is part of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction strategies, Project Guardian and Project Safe Neighborhoods, which aim to hold individuals accountable for their crimes through federal prosecution.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/man-sentenced-more-nine-years-prison-illegally-possessing-ammunition-chicago