MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Byron Dewayne Kidd, 21, Beloit, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge James Peterson to five years in federal prison for possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. Kidd pleaded guilty to this most recent offense on August 3, 2015.

Kidd possessed the firearm March 19, 2015, when he sold it to an undercover Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. At the time of the sale, Kidd previously had been convicted of burglary in Rock County Circuit Court Case No. 2012CF000353, a felony, and was serving a term of probation.

The charges against Kidd were the result of an investigation conducted by G-ROC, a task force formed through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative, to address gang and drug-related violence in Rock County through the coordination of investigations among local and federal law enforcement agencies. Its members include the FBI; Rock County Sheriff’s Office; Rock County District Attorney’s Office; Beloit Police Department; and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In the past 18 months, more than 20 people have been charged and convicted of a federal drug or gun crime as the result of G-ROC investigations. The prosecution of this case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz.