A man from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, has been sentenced to more than ten years in federal prison for illegally possessing firearms and violating the terms of his supervised release while in Rockford, Illinois.
Steven Baxter, 40, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges related to illegal firearm possession and violations of court-ordered supervision. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston handed down a sentence of 104 months in federal prison for the firearms charge and an additional 22 months for the supervised release violation, totaling 126 months.
According to court documents, Baxter admitted that during a visit to Rockford in 2022 he entered a Wing Stop restaurant carrying a handgun. He became upset about his order and threatened several employees by displaying the weapon at his hip before leaving the establishment. Later, during a traffic stop on Interstate 90 in Kane County, Baxter acknowledged he was driving with a loaded firearm and another pistol in his vehicle. Federal law prohibits previously convicted felons like Baxter from possessing firearms.
At the time of these offenses, Baxter was already under supervised release following imprisonment for an unrelated federal firearms conviction. The conditions of his release barred him from committing new crimes or possessing weapons.
The announcement of the sentence came from Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Christopher C. Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. The Rockford Police Department and Kane County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the investigation.
“It is highly concerning to the government that defendant has shown a pattern of not only illegal possession of firearms as a felon, but a pattern of brandishing and threatening people with firearms in moments of anger or rage,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodora A. Anderson argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Defendant’s history shows a disrespect for the law, for the safety of the community, and a disregard for court orders.”
