A Rockford man with a history of gun violations has been slapped with a 48-month prison sentence after getting busted with a firearm in Springfield. Joshua Mathies, 28, from the 800 block of North Court Street, was handed down the sentence on February 8, as confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice in a recent press release. Senior U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough tacked on a subsequent three-year term of supervised release following Mathies' prison time.
The February 8 sentence comes after Mathies, already on parole for a former gun crime, decided to illegally bring a semi-automatic weapon into a Springfield tavern. The authorities were tipped off to Mathies' armed presence by a bar-goer. When police attempted to engage Mathies, he tried to quickly flee the scene but was stopped short by a Taser.
Since his capture on May 14, 2023, Mathies has been in the clutches of the U.S. Marshal Service. He was facing a statutory maximum of 15 years behind bars and fines up to $250,000, plus the possibility of an additional supervised release of up to three years, showcasing the severe consequences of repeat offenses concerning firearms by felons.
The case was a joint effort by the Springfield Police Department, Sangamon County Sheriff, Illinois State Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sierra Senor-Moore was the representative for the prosecution. Mathies' conviction is part of a larger initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which works to aggressively reduce gun violence while aiming to foster better trust and cooperation between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
