From the U.S. Attorney:

Man Who Illegally Possessed Handgun on Chicago Sidewalk Sentenced to Nearly 7 Years in Federal Prison

CHICAGO — A man who illegally possessed a loaded handgun on a Chicago sidewalk and tried to flee from police has been sentenced to nearly seven years in federal prison.

LAMONT HAGGARD illegally possessed the firearm on the evening of Jan. 4, 2019. 

Chicago Police tactical officers observed Haggard reach for an object in his waistband while walking on a sidewalk in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side. 

Haggard ran from the officers and discarded the gun in a vacant lot before he was arrested in an outdoor stairwell in the rear of a nearby apartment building.

Haggard, 32, of Chicago, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal charge of illegal possession of a firearm. 

Haggard had previously been convicted of multiple state felonies and was prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle on June 24, 2022, imposed an 80-month prison sentence.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kristen de Tineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“The possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is serious in nature,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron R. Bond argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. 

“The presence of this loaded firearm in the hands of defendant, and his actions when he possessed it, were a recipe for potential disaster.”