Madison Man Sentenced to Five Years for Illegal Gun Possession

MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jevon Smith, 31, Madison, Wisconsin was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 60 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  Smith pleaded guilty to this charge on October 22, 2025.

On June 15, 2025, Fitchburg police officers found Smith sleeping in a car in the parking lot of McKee Farms Park.  Officers searched Smith’s car and found a loaded Glock 29 10mm handgun with a machinegun conversion device attached to it.  In 2019, Smith was convicted of heroin trafficking, eluding an officer, and recklessly endangering safety.  As a convicted felon, Smith is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

A machinegun conversion device is an illegal device that can be attached to handguns to allow them to fire fully automatic.  Machinegun conversion devices are also known as “switches” and pose an extreme risk to the community.

At sentencing Judge Peterson considered Smith’s past convictions and said that he was on a bad trajectory.  Judge Peterson also noted that Smith was on bond for a pending drug trafficking case at the time he committed the current federal offense.  Judge Peterson ordered Smith to serve three years of supervision following his release from prison.
 
The charge against Smith was the result of an investigation conducted by the Fitchburg Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan prosecuted this case.  

Federal criminal cases involving firearms are part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the U.S. Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.