CAPE GIRARDEAU – A 21-year-old convicted felon has admitted stealing a pistol from a Cape Girardeau County gun store and being caught days later with two machine guns.
Dayvion Jyraud Parker pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to five felonies: stealing a firearm from a licensed dealer, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of a machine gun.
Parker admitted that on June 17, 2024, he and another man stole a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol from a federally licensed firearm dealer in Cape Girardeau County. Parker first hid the pistol under his jacket before placing it between his back and the back of his wheelchair. On June 25, law enforcement officers performing a court-approved search of a home in Cape Girardeau found Parker lying on a bed with two pistols between the bed frame and the wall. Both pistols were equipped with auto sears, or “switches,” that rendered them fully automatic.
Parker is a felon and is barred from possession firearms. He was also wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant and was on probation in Illinois for aggravated discharge of a firearm.
Parker is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 28, 2025. The theft charge carries a potential penalty of up to five years in prison. The felon in possession charges each carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and the machine gun charge carries a potential 10-year prison term.
Parker’s co-defendant, Danaje Raymond Webster, 23, has not yet been arrested. Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting 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.