Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing Ammunition
CHICAGO — A man involved in a shooting incident in a Chicago suburb has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for illegally possessing ammunition.
LAVOYCE BAYS was charged with illegally possessing four cartridges of .40-caliber ammunition on June 15, 2019, in Markham, Ill. Bays was involved in a dispute with a man and others at a party and later saw the man at a gas station in the south suburb. As the man attempted to drive away from the gas station, Bays fired multiple shots and wounded him. The victim survived the shooting. Law enforcement recovered ammunition casings from the crime scene, which led to the federal charges.
Bays, 32, of Markham, pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of illegal possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He had previously been convicted in state court of a felony criminal offense and was not legally allowed to possess ammunition or a firearm.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman on Friday imposed a 102-month federal prison sentence. Judge Coleman found that, in addition to illegally possessing the ammunition, the government met its burden in proving Bays possessed a firearm and committed the shooting at the gas station, conduct which supported an enhanced sentence.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Kristen de Tineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Markham Police Department provided valuable assistance. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Berry III.
Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy. In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.
