Deville man sentenced to 27 months in prison for possessing an unregistered silencer

ALEXANDRIA, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that a Deville man was sentenced Tuesday to two years and three months in prison for possessing a silencer that had not been registered.

Jonathan Hayes, 32, of Deville, Louisiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of receipt or possession of an unregistered firearm. He was also sentenced to two years of supervised release. According to the April 16, 2018 guilty plea, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents arrested Hayes on June 1, 2016 in the Camp Beauregard Wildlife Management Area. Agents found him in possession of a Ruger .22 caliber rifle, a Savage .22 caliber rifle and a firearm silencer. The silencer, which is a firearm under federal law, had no manufacturer’s mark of identification or serial number. The silencer was not registered in the National Firearms and Transfer Record.

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 ATF and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti prosecuted the case.