Monroe County Man Sentenced for Sawed Off Shotgun Offenses

Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that James C. Voss, 25, of Waterloo, IL, was sentenced to 37 months of imprisonment on January 19, 2018 for unlawful possession of a sawed-off shotgun and felon in possession of a firearm. Voss will also have to serve a term of two years of supervised release after he is released from prison.

At his change of plea hearing on September 22, 2017, Voss admitted that he had used a sawed-off shotgun to kill a neighbor’s cat, and that he had been previously convicted of burglary, a felony offense, in Monroe County in 2011.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, Attorney General Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001.

The investigation which resulted in Voss’s arrest and conviction was conducted by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert L. Garrison.