Minneapolis Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Illegal Possession of a Machinegun

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on convictions for illegal possession of a machinegun and illegal possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. 

As proven at trial, on October 12, 2021, Marques Dwell Armstrong, Jr., 28, possessed a machinegun, namely, a loaded 9mm-caliber Glock pistol, with a high-capacity magazine, equipped with an attached machinegun conversion device, or “switch,” enabling it to be fired as a fully automatic weapon.

A jury found Armstrong guilty on February 16, 2023, of one count of illegal possession of a machinegun and one count of illegal possession of a firearm. Armstrong was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Senior Judge Donovan W. Frank to two concurrent terms of 120 months imprisonment. Armstrong also received a consecutive term of seven months imprisonment for a prior supervised-release violation.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Bejar and Albania Concepcion prosecuted the case.