MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Xavier Arthur, 24, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 30 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. Arthur pleaded guilty to this charge on April 1, 2021.
On May 25, 2020, a Sun Prairie police officer stopped Arthur when the car he was driving nearly hit a bicyclist. Arthur was arrested for operating while under the influence. Police found a loaded 9mm handgun in his pocket and a loaded extended magazine in the center console of the car. Arthur said that he had the gun for protection.
In 2019 Arthur was convicted of felony bail jumping and misdemeanor domestic battery. In the battery case, charges of robbery with force, false imprisonment, and intimidation of a victim while threatening force were dismissed but read-in for sentencing purposes. There, Arthur had a handgun on him, hit the victim in the mouth, and threatened to shoot her in the head.
Arthur also has a pending charge out of Illinois for possession of a 9mm firearm with a defaced serial number. The government noted that this was now Arthur’s third firearm case.
At sentencing, Judge Conley remarked that this was very serious offense, that Arthur nearly ran over a bicyclist while driving drunk, and that having a gun while intoxicated was a “horrible combination.” The judge also noted that the prior domestic case involved him brandishing a gun, and that Arthur was on probation for that offense when arrested in this federal case. Arthur was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release.
The charge against Arthur was the result of an investigation conducted by the Sun Prairie Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan.
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.
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