MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that James Gillaum, 33, Madison, Wisconsin was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 3 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Gillaum pleaded guilty to this charge on March 24, 2022.
Gillaum is a felon having convictions for aggravated battery in 2008, burglary in 2011, and possession of heroin with the intent to deliver in 2013. The drug conviction resulted in a prison sentence.
On May 21, 2021, Gillaum pleaded guilty to an unrelated state charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was scheduled for sentencing on July 22, 2021 but failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On August 22, 2021, Madison police officers arrested Gillaum in the area of State Street. When contacted by officers, Gillaum briefly fled before being apprehended. Officers found a loaded 9mm handgun in his underwear.
At sentencing, Judge Peterson said that the court’s primary obligation was to protect the community. Judge Peterson remarked that Gillaum committed a persistent pattern of criminal offenses despite interventions of the criminal justice system and noted that it was particularly aggravating that he armed himself with a gun while pending sentencing on a gun conviction in state court. Judge Peterson ordered the federal sentence to run consecutive to that state gun case, as well as another case where Gillaum is charged with recklessly endangering safety and discharge of a firearm. Gillaum was also ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release after his release.
The charge against Gillaum was the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison 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.