La Crosse Man Sentenced to 5 Years for Illegally Possessing Firearm

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jayvon E. Jones-Shields, 24, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 5 years in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Jones-Shields pleaded guilty to this charge on March 19, 2024.

On October 18, 2023, officers saw Jones-Shields standing on the street in La Crosse with a group of people. The officers arrested Jones-Shields on an active arrest warrant.  Officers searched a shoulder bag Jones-Shields was wearing and found a loaded .22 caliber Charter Arms revolver, numerous oxycodone pills, counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl, and cocaine. Jones-Shields is prohibited from legally possessing firearms because of multiple felony convictions in Olmsted County, Minnesota.

This case has been brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the U.S. Justice Department’s program to reduce violent crime. The PSN approach emphasizes coordination between state and federal prosecutors and all levels of law enforcement to address gun crime, especially felons illegally possessing firearms and ammunition and violent and drug crimes that involve the use of firearms.

The charge against Jones-Shields was the result of an investigation conducted by the La Crosse Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Levins prosecuted this case.