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

JULY 30, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GREEN RIDGE MAN SENTENCED

FOR ILLEGAL FIREARMS

            JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Green Ridge, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing more than two dozen firearms that he purchased at an auction for $17,000.

             Marcus Edwin Cox, 39, of Green Ridge, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright this morning to three years and four months in federal prison without parole.

             On Jan. 8, 2007, Cox pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms. Cox admitted that he purchased 33 rifles and shotguns as well as a number of pistols at an auction held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Mo., on Oct. 23, 2004. Cox took the rifles, shotguns, and two non-functioning pistols but was told to obtain permits prior to getting the remaining handguns. According to a plea agreement, Cox never took possession of those handguns.

             Law enforcement officers seized 24 rifles and shotguns and two handguns that were located in Cox’s home – including a bedroom where there were shotguns and rifles under a crib and throughout the room. Cox had pawned six of the firearms prior to this Oct. 28, 2004, seizure.

             Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearms or ammunition. Cox has a 1996 criminal felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance in Pettis County, Mo., a 1991 criminal felony conviction for burning in Saline County, Mo., two 1991 criminal felony convictions for stealing and one for alteration or removal of an item number in Pettis County, and a 1986 criminal felony conviction for sexual assault in Saline County.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the Pettis County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.