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Press Release

Detroit Resident Sentenced to 15 Months in Custody for Threatening to Blow Up Murdered Detroit Police Sargent’s Funeral

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan

A Detroit man was sentenced today to 15 months in prison after having pleaded guilty to false information and hoaxes by threating to blow up the funeral procession of a slain Detroit Police Department Sargent, announced Acting United States Attorney Daniel L. Lemisch.

 

Lemisch was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division.

 

Deshawn Maurice Lanton, 21, was sentenced by United States District Judge Sean Cox.

 

According to court records, Lanton wrote a threatening message to Channel 7’s Facebook live stream of the funeral of Detroit Police Department Sargent Kenneth Steil. Sargent Steil’s was murdered in the line of duty in September 2016. During the funeral procession at St. Joan of Arc Church in St. Clair Shores, Lanton wrote “Maybe I should drop a bomb on tha building to get rid of the rest of y’all” on the Facebook live page as hundreds of officers marched into the church to pay their respects to the fallen officer. Also at the church were Sargent Steil’s widow and two children. Other Facebook live viewers read Lanton’s post and contacted the police.

 

Lanton has several felony convictions, including crimes of violence and theft.

 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Detroit Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin M. Mulcahy and Hank Moon.

Updated June 9, 2017