Anthony Eugene Burns, a 31-year-old Maryland resident with a prior felony conviction, was sentenced on November 24, 2025, to 55 months in federal prison for illegally possessing a loaded Glock 27 pistol with an extended magazine. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., following his conviction by a federal jury on September 10, 2025, for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the sentence alongside ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela A. Smith.
Judge Jia M. Cobb also ordered Burns to serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
According to evidence presented at trial, MPD officers were patrolling Southeast Washington on February 25, 2024, when they responded to reports of a disorderly group at an apartment building on the 2700 block of Wade Road Southeast. As officers approached the building, they saw Burns turn and run away. Officers observed him throw what appeared to be a dark-colored object over a fence into a vacant lot as he fled through an alley between Eaton Road Southeast and Sumner Road Southeast. After briefly losing sight of him, police found Burns hiding on the 1200 block of Sumner Road Southeast.
Officers returned to the area where Burns had thrown the object and recovered a black Glock 27 pistol loaded with an extended magazine containing 21 rounds and one round in the chamber.
Burns had previously pleaded guilty in 2017 to felony charges related to an armed robbery spree that included conspiracy and interference with interstate commerce by robbery as well as possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. He was sentenced then to seven years (84 months) in prison and was still under supervised release for those offenses at the time of this incident.
The case was investigated by both MPD and ATF and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory V. Cole and Special Assistant United States Attorney Emily Reeder-Ricchetti, with support from Paralegal Specialist Tiffany Robinson.
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