U.S. District Court Judge Colin Bruce imposed a six-year federal prison term for a Kankakee man for a fifth weapons offense.  37-year-old Jerome Simms pleaded guilty to possession of a gun by a felon after he fled from a traffic stop last year. The U.S. federal prosecutors office  for the Central District of Illinois reported Simms had been previously convicted of four other weapons offenses in Illinois state court, including armed robbery with a knife, armed robbery with a firearm, possessing a weapon in a penal institution and possessing a firearm as a felon.

Prosecutors added that Simms had several other convictions related to controlled substances, and Judge Bruce noted that Simms was on supervised release for delivering cocaine when the traffic stop happened.  During the sentencing, prosecutors argued a significant sentence was needed to deter Simms from committing further crimes. He faced up to 15 years in prison for the crime but received a six-year sentence.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group; and the Kankakee Police Department cooperated in the investigation of the case.

94.1 WGFA