Federal Jury Finds St. Cloud Man Guilty of Illegal Possession of Firearms

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A federal jury found a St. Cloud man guilty of illegally possessing multiple firearms as a felon, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

Following a six-day trial before Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright in U.S. District Court, Roberto Antwan Williams, 38, was found guilty of two counts of possession of firearms as a felon. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Williams attempted to rob a man at gunpoint outside an apartment in St. Cloud on July 31, 2020. Williams was apprehended by law enforcement in a vehicle that the victim identified. Law enforcement subsequently discovered a firearm in the glovebox with Williams’ DNA on it.

According to the evidence presented at trial, in a separate incident on November 13, 2020, law enforcement was notified that a five-year-old child had been shot in the head and declared dead at a St. Cloud hospital. Williams and his fiancé, the child’s mother, were at the hospital and stated they were shopping when they got a phone call that the child had been injured. Williams claimed that they immediately returned home and took the child to the hospital together. However, law enforcement obtained surveillance video from a neighboring residence that showed the fiancé taking the child to the hospital alone while Williams placed two backpacks in a garbage bin outside of the house.

According to the evidence presented at trial, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Williams’ residence and garbage bins. Inside the bins, they discovered the two backpacks which contained a Kel-Tec model Sub .40 caliber semiautomatic rifle and a purple Taurus model G2C 9mm semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine. The Taurus had the deceased child’s blood on it. Law enforcement also searched Williams’ cell phone and found a picture of the purple Taurus 9mm semiautomatic pistol with the text “my new toy.”

Because Williams has multiple prior felony convictions of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of weapon, he is prohibited from lawfully possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the St. Cloud Police Department, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom Calhoun-Lopez and Mary S. Riverso tried the case.

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