Louisville, KY – A federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an indictment on September 21, 2022, charging a local man with illegally possessing a machine gun.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and ATF Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow of the Louisville Field Division made the announcement.
According to court documents, on September 6, 2022, Gregory Tolbert, 19, knowingly possessed a machine gun, a Glock switch bearing no serial number. Tolbert is currently in state custody at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections and will be scheduled for his initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky once he is transferred to federal custody. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
The ATF and the Louisville Metro Police Department are investigating the case.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA) Emily Lantz is prosecuting the case. SAUSA Lantz is an Assistant Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney sworn in as a SAUSA to prosecute firearms cases in federal court. She works closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime. Funding for SAUSA Lantz’s position comes from a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs, to the office of Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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