A Kansas City, Missouri man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison without parole for illegally possessing ammunition. David E. Degerald, 65, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips after being found guilty of being a felon in possession of ammunition.
The case stems from an incident on June 26, 2025, when Kansas City Police Department officers responded to a disturbance at a private residence on N. Oakley Avenue. According to court documents, a witness reported seeing a man back a truck into the deck of a house and argue with a woman before leaving the scene.
Officers later located a vehicle matching the description provided by the witness. After attempting to stop the truck on foot and then pursuing it in their patrol cars, police stopped the vehicle at NE 48th Street and N. Oakley Avenue. The driver, identified as Degerald and alone in the vehicle, was detained by officers who noticed “a strong odor of alcohol coming from the driver’s breath.” When asked about his alcohol consumption, Degerald replied, “too much.”
Degerald refused field sobriety tests and was arrested. During an inventory search of his truck before towing, officers found eight rifle rounds and an extended magazine containing about 28 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Federal law prohibits individuals convicted of felonies from possessing ammunition. A background check revealed that Degerald had multiple prior felony convictions, including a second-degree murder conviction in Clay County in 2001.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford prosecuted the case with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Kansas City Police Department.
The prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which brings together law enforcement agencies and communities to reduce violent crime and gun violence through coordinated strategies. “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.”
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri manages federal prosecutions across 66 counties stretching from Iowa to Arkansas borders with offices in Kansas City, Jefferson City and Springfield (official website). The office works alongside federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners (official website) to address issues such as violent crime (official website).
