Jones Sentenced on Federal Gun Charges

MINNEAPOLIS -- A 35-year-old St. cloud man has been sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison after a string of shootings in St. Cloud last year.

Jesse Lamond Jones was convicted of being a felon in possession of a handgun in July. Authorities linked Jones to a 9-millimeter handgun that was used in four incidents in April and May 2010.

First, shots were fired into a group of people walking in Southeast St. Cloud. Days later, two people in that group were shot at again outside a St. Cloud bar. About two weeks after that, shots were fired into a St. Cloud residence and then at an apartment complex. Police found a woman who had been shot in the hand.

Officers gathered spent shell casings and an empty magazine at the scene.

Police ultimately arrested Jones at a St. Cloud trailer home on an unrelated warrant and found the gun.

Forensics matched the gun to the shell casings and the empty clip. Jones' DNA was also found on the gun.

Because Jones has three or more felony convictions, he was prosecuted as a armed career criminal.