Rockford Man Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for Illegal Firearm Possession

ROCKFORD — A Rockford man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon. 

U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston on Thursday sentenced BRANDON L. DISHMAN, 33, to 70 months in prison.  Dishman pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of illegal possession of a firearm.

On Dec. 21, 2020, Dishman possessed a loaded .45-caliber pistol while riding in a vehicle.  The Rockford Police Department attempted to conduct a traffic stop of the vehicle.  As it slowed down and stopped, Dishman exited the vehicle and fled on foot in a residential neighborhood.  Dishman, ignoring officers’ commands to stop, dropped the gun as he ran.  After a brief chase, Dishman was apprehended by the police and taken into custody.  The loaded pistol was recovered in the front yard of a residence in the neighborhood.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jeffrey L. Matthews, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and Carla Redd, Chief of the Rockford Police Department.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Beckman.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy.  In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.