Felon Caught with Silenced Pistol Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a convicted felon who was caught in someone’s back yard with a silenced pistol to 70 months in prison. 

On Oct. 13, 2022, the St. Charles Police Department responded to a call about a man in the 200 block of Blanche Drive.  A witness told police that the man was in the rear yard of a home and had been waving a firearm in a threatening manner. The officer discovered Christopher Leach in the gated back yard. When the officer drew his gun and identified himself as a police officer, Leach ran away, tossing the gun into a bush. The officer used a Taser on Leach, who initially refused to put his hands behind his back. The officer found the gun, a loaded .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol with a firearm silencer attached to the barrel. Leach is a felon, having been convicted of offenses including stealing, drug possession, unlawful possession of an illegal weapon and distribution of a controlled substance. He was on parole when he was arrested. 

Leach’s sentence will run consecutive to any sentence he receives for pending parole revocation matters in Phelps County Circuit Court.

Leach, 28, of Rolla, Missouri, pleaded guilty in April in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The St. Charles Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Christian Goeke prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.