A Rockford man, identified as Tyrone Smith, age 37, has been handed a hefty eight-year prison sentence by a federal judge for unlawfully possessing a firearm, the Department of Justice reports. Smith, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge, was by federal law barred from having a gun due to his status as a previously convicted felon.
On a day back in September 2022, within the confines of Rockford, Smith was caught with a loaded handgun – 13 rounds in the magazine and one ready in the chamber. Following his admission of guilt outlined in a plea agreement, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins delivered the sentence this past Monday at the U.S. District Court in that city.
Announcing the sentencing was Acting United States Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois, along with input from Christopher Amon, the Chicago Field Division's Special Agent-in-Charge for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and Rockford’s own Police Chief Carla Redd. Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodora Anderson represented the government in the case.
The crackdown on illegal firearm possession is not a standalone incident but rather a piece of a larger puzzle known as Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). As outlined by the Department of Justice, PSN is the DOJ's strategy aimed at reducing violent crime across the board, with a focus on gun-related offenses. The U.S. Attorney's Office along with its law enforcement partners have been actively deploying the PSN program throughout the Northern District of Illinois to tackle the district's prominent violent crime issues, particularly those that involve firearms.
