NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

AUGUST 7, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT CEASEFIRE

KC MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS

FOR ILLEGAL FIREARM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing a firearm.

Maurice J. Clark, 35, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple this morning to 10 years in federal prison without parole, which is the statutory maximum sentence.

On Feb. 5, 2007, Clark pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Clark was arrested following a traffic stop on Oct. 28, 2006. Police officers found a loaded Hi-Point .45-caliber pistol in the glove box of the vehicle Clark was driving.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Clark has two criminal felony convictions for assault and a criminal felony conviction for armed criminal action.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jess E. Michaelsen. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Project Ceasefire Project Ceasefire, launched in October 1999, is a cooperative initiative by federal and local law enforcement and the Kansas City Crime Commission that targets for federal prosecution persons who unlawfully use or possess firearms.

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