Jahiem Sutherland, 19, of Springfield, was wearing an ankle monitor as he was out on bail on an illegal firearms charge when officers arrested him Wednesday evening, June 7, Springfield police said.
Officers found an illegal large-capacity, loaded ghost gun on Sutherland with an illegal modification called a Glock switch, which makes it fully automatic, authorities said.
This is the third time police have arrested him on illegal weapons charges. He was out on bail from an August arrest and has previously been convicted of the crime as well, police said.
Authorities charged him with:
- Carrying a loaded firearm without a license – 2nd Offense
- Carrying a loaded large-capacity firearm on a public way
- Possession of a loaded machine gun
- Convicted felon in possession of a firearm
- Parole violation warrant
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno slammed judges for allowing repeat offenders to "laugh at the courts" by getting bail and being allowed to re-offend.
Once again, another case of a repeat violent criminal offender back on our streets and in our neighborhoods after being released by our courts on illegal firearm charges and once again, our brave and dedication Springfield police officers rearrested the same individual on yet another illegal firearm – ghost gun, this time while wearing a GPS bracelet and out on bail. Terrific work by our men and women in blue in taking yet another illegal ghost gun off our streets, but what more do our officers have to do to keep our streets and residents safe from these gun-toting repeat offenders. They laugh at the courts and our residents knowing full well there will be no consequences for their crimes. There is something seriously wrong when a repeat offender keeps getting rearrested multiple times with illegal guns and they are allowed to be released with little to no consequences for their actions. What message is this sending to our residents, business community and even our law enforcement officials? It is our residents and businesses that suffer from the lack of justice from some judges.
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