Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Fentanyl and Illegally Possessing Firearm

ROCKFORD - A Rockford man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl and illegally possessing a firearm.

U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston on Tuesday sentenced MICHAEL MALLETT, 27, to 103 months in federal prison. Mallett pleaded guilty late last year to possession of a controlled substance and the unlawful possession of a firearm.

Mallet admitted in a plea agreement that on Aug. 19, 2020, he knowingly and intentionally possessed 7.39 grams of fentanyl and that he planned to sell it on the streets. Mallett also admitted that during the time he intended to distribute the fentanyl, he was in possession of a Glock Model 32, which had been converted into a machinegun by an after-market device known as an "auto sear."

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodora Anderson.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) - the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction strategy. In the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney's Office and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.