KC Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Illegal Firearm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, 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.

Thomas D. Clegg, 29, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 10 years in federal prison without parole, the statutory maximum sentence.

Clegg, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 26, 2012 to being a felon in possession of a firearm, was arrested on May 4, 2012. According to court documents, Kansas City, Mo., police officers responded to the area of I-70 and Sterling to locate a suspect and a Yellow Cab that had been taken in an earlier carjacking. The cab driver reported that his cell phone had been taken and police officers were able to ping the phone to determine its location. The officers located the victim’s cab and went into the IHOP restaurant, where they located Clegg sitting alone in a booth.

The officers asked Clegg to step out of the booth and he attempted to push past the officers and flee. Clegg struggled violently and the officers had to deploy a taser to take him into custody. Officers searched Clegg and found a loaded 9mm Taurus semi-automatic handgun in his left front pants pocket. The victim’s cell phone was recovered from Clegg and returned to the victim.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Clegg has two prior felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance and prior felony convictions for unlawful use of a weapon, trafficking drugs, voluntary manslaughter, firing a weapon from a motor vehicle causing injury or death, armed criminal action and assault.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

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.