KC Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Illegal Firearm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing a firearm.

Shane E. Jones, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 15 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court sentenced Jones as an armed career criminal due to his prior felony convictions. The court ordered the federal sentenced be served consecutively to Jones’s sentence in two unrelated state cases.

On Feb. 8, 2018, Jones pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was arrested following a traffic stop by Independence, Mo., police officers for having different license plates on the front and rear of his vehicle. Officers found a loaded Hi-Point .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a box of ammunition under the front driver’s seat.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Jones has 17 adult felony convictions, including five prior felony convictions for sale of a controlled substance. He had been out of prison, and on probation, for approximately four months prior to his arrest.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad K. Kavanaugh. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Independence, Mo., Police Department.