St. Louis Rapper Sentenced to 7+ Years in Prison for Gun Charge
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Wednesday sentenced a St. Louis gang leader and rapper to seven years and eight months in prison on a gun charge.
Arthur Pressley, a.k.a. 30 Deep Grimeyy or Grimeyy, was not only caught with a gun as a convicted felon, but had fake gun sale documents created to try and escape the charge.
Pressley, now 25, was stopped by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers on Jan. 5, 2021 in a 2008 Pontiac G8. The Pontiac had a taillight out and had license plates registered to a Jeep.
Police found a Beretta 92FS 9mm pistol next to Pressley.
After the traffic stop, Pressley began sending text messages to the original purchaser of the gun, asking him to falsify a bill of sale to one of the other occupants of the Pontiac. He produced another falsified copy of the bill of sale in October, on the first day of his trial on the felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Pressley then pleaded guilty rather than continue the trial. He admitted possessing the gun on a number of occasions between Oct. 4, 2021, the day after it was purchased, and the date of the traffic stop.
Investigators also found pictures of Pressley and the gun on the social media accounts of Pressley and others and in Pressley’s phone, including one in which the serial number of the gun can be seen. Pressley also discusses the gun in messages.
Pressley, as a convicted felon, is barred from possessing firearms. He was twice convicted of a charge of unlawful use of a weapon.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been investigating Pressley and his gang, 30 Deep, for over a year at the time of the traffic stop.
“ATF has no more important mission than working with our law enforcement partners to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals,” said Frederic Winston, Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City Field Division, of the ATF. “In partnership with the Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department and United States Attorney’s Office, we will continue to work tirelessly to bring those who illegally acquire and possess firearms, to justice.”
The case was investigated by the ATF and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassandra Wiemken and Jennifer Szczucinski are prosecuting the case.
