BATON ROUGE MAN SENTENCED TO 153 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR GUN CONVICTION

United States Attorney Kurt L. Wall announced that U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentenced Alkeyvin Ennis, age 33, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to 153 months in federal prison following his conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The Court further sentenced Ennis to serve 13 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment and ordered the firearm involved be forfeited.

According to admissions made during his plea, on or about June 24, 2022, a 2020 Kia Soul was reported stolen to the Baton Rouge City Police Department. On July 8, 2022, officers spotted the stolen Kia Soul traveling westbound on Greenwell Springs Road and began following the vehicle when it then accelerated and ran a red light trying to flee from the officers, ultimately crashing into a residence on North 49th Street and causing significant damage to the residence.

Following the crash, Ennis leapt out of the Kia, and ran to the back of the residence, while being pursued by officers. Officers detained him in the backyard of a house next door. When officers apprehended Ennis, they observed a pair of black gloves he had removed from his hands as he fled. As officers walked Ennis back to their patrol car, they observed that he was wearing a leg holster, black T-shirt, black pants, and boots.

The stolen Kia Soul had red and blue emergency lights attached to the front driver and passenger visors. A tactical vest labeled "Police," walkie-talkie radio, and black flashlight was located on the passenger floorboard. Very shortly following his arrest, law-enforcement officers learned that Ennis used the firearm, while impersonating a police officer, when he and at least one or two accomplices made a traffic stop of a driver operating a Honda Accord and led the driver to believe they were police officers, pistol whipped the driver on the head, and zip-tied his hands behind his back. During this encounter, the victim/driver broke free and fled at which time Ennis stepped back into the stolen Kia Soul and his accomplice into the victim's car, and drove off.

After placing Ennis into one of the patrol units, officers searched the area he ran through as he fled looking for the pistol he was carrying in his leg holster but were not able to locate it due to poor lighting conditions.

After his arrest, Ennis made a phone call from prison directing a friend to the location of his arrest and asked the friend to retrieve the pistol he dropped during the flee. The call was monitored and recorded by jail authorities. Officers learned of that recorded phone call and proceeded to spot of the defendant's arrest, located a Glock 26, 9 mm caliber pistol with an extended magazine just a few feet from where Ennis had been arrested. The firearm was loaded with one round in the chamber.

Ennis was previously convicted of simple burglary on April 2, 2012, in the 15^th Judicial District Court and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labor; possession of ecstasy on July 22, 2015, in the 19th Judicial District Court, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labor; and attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on December 15, 2021, in the 18h Judicial District Court, and was sentenced to a suspended jail term of seven and a half years while under supervised probation for three years.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, and Baton Rouge Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert W. Piedrahita.