Three Convicted Felons Charged in Federal Court With Illegally Possessing Handguns in Chicago

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has returned indictments against three convicted felons for allegedly illegally possessing loaded handguns in Chicago.

MITCHELL AGNEW, 20, CARL ADAMS, 35, and ROLAND BLACK, 39, all of Chicago, are each charged with one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  All three defendants were previously convicted of criminal felonies and were not lawfully allowed to possess a firearm.

Three separate indictments were returned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  All three defendants are in law enforcement custody.  Arraignments have not yet been scheduled.

The indictments were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kristen deTineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  The government is represented in the Agnew and Adams cases by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cornelius S. Vandenberg, and in the Black case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Grayson S. Walker.

Holding gun offenders accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Guardian and Project Safe Neighborhoods – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategies.  Project Guardian focuses specifically on investigating, prosecuting, and preventing gun crimes, and it emphasizes the importance of using modern technologies to promote gun crime intelligence.  In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the Guardian and PSN programs to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, including by prosecuting individuals who illegally possess firearms.

According to the charges, Agnew illegally possessed a loaded semiautomatic handgun on Feb. 16, 2020, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood; Adams illegally possessed a loaded handgun on Feb. 1, 2020, in the West Garfield Park neighborhood; and Black illegally possessed a loaded semiautomatic handgun on Feb. 11, 2017, in the Douglas neighborhood.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  Illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.