{"id":1542936,"date":"2022-07-07T12:34:48","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T16:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542936"},"modified":"2022-07-07T12:34:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T16:34:58","slug":"former-all-american-football-player-sentenced-to-prison-for-gun-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-all-american-football-player-sentenced-to-prison-for-gun-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"Former All-American Football Player Sentenced To Prison For Gun Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-all-american-football-player-sentenced-to-prison-for-gun-trafficking%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542936&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A former two-time All-American <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/college-football\">college football<\/a> player was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday following his conviction for gun trafficking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Staton Jr., 24, who played offensive line for the Norfolk State Spartans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/chesapeake-man-pleads-guilty-firearms-trafficking#:~:text=NORFOLK%2C%20Va.,45%20firearms%20without%20a%20license.\">pleaded guilty<\/a> in December to conspiracy to make false statements in connection with 45 firearm transactions, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/former-college-football-player-sentenced-firearms-trafficking\">according<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/department-of-justice\">Department of Justice<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose who traffic illegal firearms, like this defendant, are fueling the fires of gun violence, and with our law enforcement partners we will continue to relentlessly pursue those who seek to profit from these crimes,\u201d said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Facing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/chesapeake-man-pleads-guilty-firearms-trafficking\">maximum<\/a> of 15 years, Staton was sentenced to just 18 months in prison, with two years of supervised release. Authorities say that the former football standout \u201cengaged in the business of buying and selling 45 firearms without a license\u201d for about a year, from June 2019 to June 2020.<\/p>\n<p>According to federal prosecutors, the 24-year-old lied on ATF paperwork, \u201cpurchasing the firearms for other individuals or with the intent to quickly resell them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Several of the guns that Staton trafficked were later linked to homicides and shootings and taken from convicted felons. The DOJ said that one of the weapons was \u201cconnected\u201d to a March 21, 2020 homicide in Philadelphia, while another was linked to a shooting with multiple victims on May 28, 2020. A third was linked to a May 30, 2020, shooting into a home.<\/p>\n<p>At least one-third of the firearms Staton trafficked were linked to crime scenes across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During the investigation, Staton told ATF agents, \u201cGuns are like money\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m buying them knowing I\u2019m going to be selling them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s announcement sends a clear message of accountability because we know all too well that purchasing firearms for people other than yourself can yield deadly consequences,\u201d ATF Special Agent in Charge Charlie Patterson said. \u201cWe at ATF continue to work diligently to ensure that people who violate established firearm related laws and commit acts of violence like those involved in this investigation will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aber also lauded the passage of the \u201cBipartisan Safer Communities Act\u201d in her statement, which was the most expansive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/gun-control\">gun control<\/a> law passed in decades. President Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/biden-signs-most-expansive-gun-control-bill-in-decades-into-law-following-republican-support\">signed<\/a> the bill last month after it passed with support from some Republicans in the House and the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former two-time All-American college football player was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday following his conviction for gun trafficking.\u00a0 Kevin Staton Jr., 24, who played offensive line for the Norfolk State Spartans, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to make false statements in connection with 45 firearm transactions, according to the Department &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":1546990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1542936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}