Chicago City Wire

A federal judge has sentenced a Rockford man to ten years in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm.

Lawndale Pelts, 36, was found guilty of the firearm offense in May following a jury trial in federal court in Rockford. U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston imposed the sentence on Friday.

According to evidence presented at trial, on July 6, 2021, multiple people began shooting at each other in a residential neighborhood on 41st Avenue in Rockford. Home security footage depicted Pelts in possession of a firearm as he fled the shooting. Pelts threw his gun in a residential yard and later, while at the hospital, lied to police about what happened. As a previously convicted felon, Pelts was prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and Carla Redd, Chief of the Rockford Police Department. The Beloit Police Department assisted in the investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Maveus and Cassandra Maier.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy. In the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to address various violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.