Former KLM Security Employee Sentenced for Illegally Possessing a Firearm on the Job

Patrick D. Liddell, 41, of Belleville, Illinois, was sentenced today in federal court on the charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Liddell was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, a $250.00 fine, and a special assessment of $100.00. On April 29, 2011, Liddell entered his guilty plea to the charge. Liddell had previously been convicted on December 28, 1992, of a felony crime of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base.

On August 24, 2010, as Liddell was working for KLM Security at a construction site in East St. Louis, Illinois, he was approached by a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After some discussion, Liddell ultimately admitted having a firearm underneath his front driver’s seat. An Illinois State Trooper accompanying the agent retrieved a Bersa 380 semi-automatic handgun. The firearm was loaded and chambered with .380 caliber hollow-point ammunition. An additional magazine with .380 hollow-point ammunition was also found in the vehicle.

“As I said today at the Civil Rights Summit, persons paid with or using federal funds, by that fact alone, have an especially high duty to obey the law. While I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of other, ongoing investigations, I will pledge that my Office is doing all that it can to assure the citizens of this community that their federal tax dollars are spent and administered properly.” said United States Attorney Wigginton.

Liddell’s former employer, Kim L. McAfee, president of KLM Loss Prevention, Inc., pled guilty earlier this week to 38 counts in two separate cases involving lying in a civil rights investigation and fraud and false statements related to underpayment of his employees. McAfee will be sentenced in December. Liddell is the first of McAfee’s employees to be prosecuted as a result of an investigation into McAfee and his security company.

The investigation was handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Metro East Safe Streets Task Force which is part of the East St. Louis Violent Crime Initiative. The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin F. Burke.