Convicted Felon Sentenced To 63 Months In Prison For Possessing Stolen Firearm

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri:

June 26, 2020

St. Louis, Missouri – Altonio Steeples, 37, of St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced to 63 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He appeared in federal court today before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark.

According to the plea agreement, on June 23, 2019, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Officers responded to a reported disturbance in the 5800 block of Lotus. When Officers arrived, they observed Steeples and an unidentified male standing outside of a Nissan sedan. Upon seeing the marked police vehicle, Steeples and the unidentified male left the Nissan engine running, ran to a nearby porch and began knocking on the door. As Officers exited their patrol car to approach the two men on the porch, both men ran from Officers down a gangway.

While Steeples was running, a chasing Officer observed him reach into his waistband and remove a firearm. The Officer commanded Steeples to drop the firearm. Steeples then threw the firearm down in the gangway and continued to run. The Officer eventually took Steeples into custody and recovered the loaded Springfield Armory .45 caliber semiautomatic firearm Steeples had thrown while fleeing. The Springfield Armory firearm had been reported stolen, and Steeples was serving a term of supervised release for a prior federal felony conviction at the time of arrest.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated this case.

This press release was produced by the US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri. The views expressed here are the author’s own.