KC Man Sentenced in Two Indictments for Illegal Firearms

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today in two separate indictments for illegally possessing firearms.

Yacub E. Williams, 38, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 14 years in federal prison without parole. The court sentenced Williams to 10 years on the indictments plus four years on the revocation of his supervised release in a prior conviction.

On Sept. 22, 2022, Williams pleaded guilty to two separate federal indictments. Williams pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In a second case, Williams pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a violent felon in possession of body armor.

Williams admitted that he was in possession of a Kel-Tec 5.56-caliber rifle on Dec. 27, 2019, while he was in a white 2015 Ford Fusion parked at his Kansas City residence.

On June 16, 2020, members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were conducting surveillance on a residence in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in order to serve a federal arrest warrant on Williams for violating the terms of his supervised release for a prior federal conviction. Williams left the residence and got into the driver’s seat of the same 2015 white Ford Fusion. He appeared to retrieve something from the vehicle, then got out and walked to the back yard of the residence. Officers approached the residence and found Williams, carrying a Beretta .40-caliber pistol, running from the property.

Williams barricaded himself behind a detached water heater next to a nearby shed for several hours before he surrendered. Officers found the pistol behind the water heater. Officers also searched the Ford Fusion and found the body armor.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Williams has prior felony convictions for assault, armed criminal action, being a felon in possession of a firearm, aiding and abetting a bank robbery, and use of a firearm during a violent crime.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Michael Green. It was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.