Felon Sentenced to More Than Two and a Half Years in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing Handgun in Chicago After Being Released on Bond in State Court for Prior Violent[...]

CHICAGO - A felon has been sentenced to more than two and a half years in federal prison for illegally possessing a handgun outside a Chicago fast food restaurant shortly after he was released on bond for a violent crime case pending in state court.

JONATHAN SCOTT was arrested on May 25, 2025, after he displayed a handgun during an argument with an employee of a McDonald's restaurant on the West Side of Chicago. Chicago Police were called to the scene and discovered the handgun in Scott's vehicle, which was parked outside the restaurant. Scott had previously been convicted of multiple felony offenses and was legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.

At the time of his arrest outside of the McDonald's restaurant, Scott was on pre-trial release for a violent crime case pending in state court. In that case, Scott forced his way into his ex-girlfriend's car in March 2025 and took her cell phone, causing injury to the ex-girlfriend. Scott was later convicted of unlawful vehicular invasion and sentenced to four years in state prison.

Scott, 33, of Oak Park, Ill., pleaded guilty in the federal case in March 2026 to a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. On July 24, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis sentenced Scott to 32 months in federal prison, which was a sentence within the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The federal investigation was conducted in coordination with ATF's Crime Gun Intelligence Center of Chicago. The CGIC is a centralized law enforcement partnership that focuses exclusively on investigating and prosecuting violent offenders who utilize firearms in commission of their crimes in Chicago and throughout northern Illinois. Every firearm-related case in Chicago is processed through the CGIC on a daily basis.

"The defendant has, between the ages of 19 and 32, racked up eleven felony convictions, including convictions for aggravated battery, violating orders of protection, escaping a penal institution, unlawful vehicular invasion, and aggravated assault and use of a deadly weapon," Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Stern argued in the government's sentencing memorandum. "It is critical that the defendant's increasingly escalating criminal conduct be halted."