A former police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for possessing machine guns, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Ira Brown, 56, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday. Brown admitted that Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers found a fully automatic AR-15 rifle and an auto sear at his home on October 23, 2020. The auto sear is a device that can convert an AR-15 into a fully automatic weapon. The search of Brown’s Viburnum residence was conducted as part of an unrelated investigation and also led to the discovery of 10,000 rounds of belt-fed .223 caliber ammunition, including armor piercing rounds.
At the time of his arrest, Brown was working as a dispatcher at a 911 call center but had previously served as a police officer.
After being released on bond, Brown fled and was later arrested in Oregon in 2024. He pleaded guilty in July 2025 to possession of a machine gun.
Brown’s son, Zerak Brown, now 24, is serving a sentence of more than ten years after being convicted in 2021 on two counts of assaulting a federal officer and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. According to evidence presented at trial, when troopers arrived to allow Zerak Brown’s girlfriend to collect her belongings from Ira Brown’s home, Zerak refused entry and struggled with officers. He asked his brother for a gun before fleeing the scene. Later encounters involved Zerak being seen with a rifle and pointing it at law enforcement officers before eventually surrendering.
The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Viburnum Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.
