MADISON, WIS. -- John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jason I. Kestler, 36, Brooklyn, Wis., was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 36 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. Kestler pleaded guilty to the charge on June 24, 2015.
On December 4, 2014, Kestler sold a Glock 9mm handgun to a drug dealer in Madison for approximately 1 gram of heroin. Madison police officers recovered the firearm from the heroin dealer that same day, after the dealer was arrested in an unrelated investigation. The dealer later provided law enforcement with information about the firearm, and Kestler was then arrested for the current charge on April 20, 2015. Kestler had obtained the firearm by stealing it from a family member, who did not discover it was missing until after it was recovered by the police.
At the time of this offense, Kestler was on state probation and had been previously convicted of possession of narcotic drugs in Dane County; false imprisonment and battery in Sauk County; and operating while intoxicated and felony bail jumping in Columbia County, Wisconsin.
The charge against Kestler was the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz. #
