St Joseph Man Receives Federal Firearms Conviction

A St Joseph man has been convicted in federal court for illegally possession a firearm.

30 year old Earl B. Penn was convicted for an incident in June of 2020 when he struggled and resisted being arrested in an altercation with a St Joseph police detective who attempted to contact him regarding violations of a federal supervised release. Penn had struck the officer in the face and the back of his head multiple times and pulled pepper spray away from the officer.

During the altercation, the detective noticed a loaded handgun on Penn’s person.

Penn has previous convictions for residential burglary, arson, and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and cocaine.

Penn now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole.