Belleville Man Sentenced For Unlawful Possession Of A Firearm By A Previously Convicted Felon
A Belleville man, Shevon A. Martin, was sentenced in United States District Court, East St.
Louis, to 6 months’ imprisonment to be followed by 6 months’ home detention for Unlawful
Possession of a Firearm by a Previously Convicted Felon, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Martin, who has been on
bond, was taken into custody. Martin was also sentenced to 3 years’ supervised release, a $200 fine,
and a $100 special assessment. There is no parole in the federal system.
According to court documents, on August 24, 2011, members of the FBI WAVE Task Force
were patrolling East St. Louis, Illinois, and approached the ZX convenience store located on Bond
Avenue, a location well-known for open air drug dealing and weapon possession. When agents
pulled onto the parking lot, the Defendant looked toward them before immediately turning and
walking into the store where he hid a Sturm Ruger, 9mm semiautomatic pistol containing one live
round in the chamber and 9 live rounds in the magazine, in a display of “Rap Snacks,” a potato chip
brand.
The Defendant has a prior felony conviction for Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon,
which occurred on July 31, 2008, in the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, St. Clair
County, Illinois. The firearm functioned as designed.
The WAVE Task Force focuses its efforts on combating violent crime in East St. Louis,
Washington Park, and surrounding communities. WAVE was formed in November, 2009, and is a
collaboration of law enforcement officers from the Illinois State Police, the Metropolitan
Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI), the East St. Louis Police Department, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The WAVE Task Force receives financial support through the Department of Justice’s Project Safe
Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, a nationwide federal program which endeavors to address gunrelated
violence.
The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kit Morrissey
