Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, has announced that Andre Miller Jr., a 24-year-old resident of Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for possessing a machinegun. U.S. District Judge William M. Conley handed down the sentence following Miller's guilty plea on November 8, 2024. The prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.
The incident leading to Miller's arrest occurred on October 27, 2021, when officers from the Town of Madison Police Department responded to a report of a stolen vehicle parked in Madison. Miller was identified as the driver and attempted to flee when approached by an officer. Upon apprehension, officers discovered a gun magazine in his backpack and subsequently found a loaded Glock 26 9mm handgun with a machinegun conversion device inside. Additionally, they recovered 48 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin from the backpack.
U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea commented on the dangers posed by such devices: “Machinegun conversion devices are extraordinarily dangerous,” he stated. “These devices are often used in weapons that are not designed to function as machine guns, thus making the weapons incredibly difficult to aim. Discharging a weapon equipped with such a device in a public area endangers every child and adult within range."
Judge Conley expressed concern during sentencing about Miller carrying a machinegun linked to drug trafficking activities.
The investigation into Miller's case was conducted by the Town of Madison Police Department and the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force, which includes federal agents from ATF and Task Force Officers from local agencies such as Dane County and Clark County Sheriff’s Offices and several police departments including Fitchburg, Madison, Sun Prairie, and La Crosse.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven P. Anderson and William M. Levins prosecuted the case under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative by the U.S. Justice Department aimed at reducing violent crime through coordination between state and federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
