Violent Felon Sentenced for Possession of an Illegal Rifle

WASHINGTON - Travis Wicks, 48, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for possessing a Sig Sauer P-365 handgun that had been converted into a rifle and equipped with a drum magazine loaded with forty-rounds of ammunition, along with a laser sight.

The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves; Special Agent in Charge Craig Kailimai, of the Washington Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Wicks pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. The plea represents his fourth gun charge. In addition to the 57-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, ordered Wicks to serve three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, on May 1, 2023, MPD officers executed a search warrant at the Southeast Washington D.C. apartment where Wicks was known to stay. The search recovered one round of 9mm ammunition in a kitchen cabinet, a black firearm laser sight on a living room coffee table, nine loose 9mm rounds inside a bedroom closet, a drum-style magazine containing 40 rounds of 9mm ammunition in the bedroom closet, and a Sig Sauer P-365 semi-automatic handgun with an obliterated serial number inserted into a rifle conversion kit, also found on the bedroom closet floor. Subsequent DNA analysis linked Wicks to the weapon.

According to the sentencing memo, Wicks has a long and varied history of violent behavior that now includes four gun charges. In October 2005, Wicks was convicted in D.C. Superior Court of voluntary manslaughter while armed for stabbing an unarmed man 20 times in a restaurant.

This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Yasmine Emrani and Cameron Tepfer.