Madison Man Sentenced to Almost 8 Years for Illegally Possessing Firearms and Ammunition While on Federal Supervision

MADISON, WIS. - Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Marvin Coates, 39, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 71 months in federal prison for possessing firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon. Coates pleaded guilty to this charge on March 18, 2026. Judge Peterson also sentenced Coats to an additional 24 months in federal prison for violating the terms of his supervised release.

On August 28, 2025, Madison police responded to a 911 call where the reporting party said that Coates had threatened an individual and followed that individual home. Police responded to the apartment complex and saw Coates getting into a car. Police stopped Coates and searched the surrounding area. Across the street, police found two firearms, a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun with nine rounds in the magazine and an SCCY 9mm handgun with an extended magazine holding 28 rounds. The firearms were wrapped in a t-shirt sitting on the rear wheel of a parked pickup truck.

Police obtained video surveillance from the apartment complex. The video showed Coates walking down the sidewalk toward his car carrying the t-shirt. As the Madison police squad car approached, Coates stopped near the rear of the pickup before crossing the street to head toward his car. The Wisconsin State Crime Lab later recovered Coates's DNA on the firearms.

Coates is prohibited from legally possessing firearms or ammunition because of prior felony convictions including a 2020 federal conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon. In that case, Coates fired a handgun into the air during a disturbance. He was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was still on supervised release when he committed this offense.

At sentencing, Judge Peterson stressed that a goal of sentencing was to protect the community. Judge Peterson said that Coates failed to follow his rules of federal supervision, had a bad temper, was impulsive, and "demonstrated a resolute disrespect for every manifestation of the law."

The charge against Coates was the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Police Department and the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force, which is comprised of federal agents from ATF as well as state and local agents throughout the Western District of Wisconsin. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan prosecuted this case.

Federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice involving drugs and guns are part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).