Licensed Gun Dealer in Jersey County Sentenced for Knowingly Selling Guns to a Drug User

Jerseyville resident John L. (Jay) Jones, II, 33, was sentenced in federal district for selling firearms to someone he knew to be a regular user of cocaine, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Stephen R. Wigginton announced. Jones was ordered to serve a combined sentence of six months’ home confinement, followed by 12 months of incarceration and two years’ supervised following incarceration. Jones was also fined $1,000 and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment fee.

In March 2013, Jones pled guilty to a one-count information charging that in May 2010, Jones sold five firearms to another person, knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that the purchaser was an unlawful user of a controlled substance. Jones was formerly the operator of Discount House, Inc.—a federal firearms licensee (FFL) in Jersey County, Illinois—and was working in that capacity when he illegally sold the firearms.

This case was investigated by agents of the United States Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, working in concert with agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, officers of the Jersey County Sheriff’s Department, and the Illinois State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Nathan D. Stump prosecuted the case.