Peoria Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of a Machinegun
PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois, man, Don Young, Jr., 22, of the 2200 block of North Flora Ave., pleaded guilty on April 14, 2022, to possession of a machinegun, namely a loaded Glock Model 19, 9mm caliber pistol equipped with a select fire auto-sear converting it into a fully automatic weapon. Sentencing for Young has been scheduled on August 18, 2022, at the federal courthouse in Peoria.
During the hearing, the government stated that on December 15, 2021, Young fled from Peoria police officers that were seeking to arrest him for multiple outstanding arrest warrants. Young initially fled on a motorized bike, then discarded the bike and ran on foot through a residential area. Young was apprehended and in his flight path officers located a Glock Model 19, 9mm handgun equipped with a conversion device attached to the gun, enabling it to fire more than one round of ammunition with a single pull of the trigger. The gun was loaded with a live round in the chamber and was equipped with a high-capacity extended magazine.
Young remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.
Young faces statutory penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment, up to a three-year term of supervised release, and up to a $250,000 fine.
The case investigation was conducted by the Peoria Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Hanna is representing the government in the prosecution.
The case against Young was brought as part of The Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. The Department’s renewed commitment to Project Safe Neighborhoods establishes four fundamental principles to guide efforts to reduce violent crime: 1) build trust and legitimacy within communities; 2) invest in community-based prevention and intervention programs; 3) target enforcement and priorities to focus resources on identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the most significant drivers of gun violence and other violent crime; and, 4) measure results with the goal to reduce the level of violence in our communities and not to increase the number of arrests and prosecutions as if they were ends in themselves.
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