A registered sex offender from St. Louis County, Antoine Maurice Gant, has admitted to selling firearms illegally on five separate occasions to an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Gant, 39, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court records, he sold a 9mm handgun for $400 to the ATF agent in a St. Louis alley on May 24, 2024. A week later, he sold two more handguns to the same agent. On June 14, 2024, Gant provided two additional handguns and $140 worth of cocaine. On June 27, 2024, he sold an AK-47-style rifle in East St. Louis and then an hour later sold a .40-caliber pistol, an AR-style pistol, and a 12-gauge shotgun outside a laundromat in St. Louis.
Due to his felony status stemming from previous convictions—including statutory rape in 2012 and second-degree assault in 2018—Gant is prohibited from possessing firearms.
Gant is scheduled for sentencing on March 4, 2026. Each charge carries up to 15 years in prison and fines that could reach $250,000.
The ATF led the investigation into Gant’s activities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Finlen is handling the prosecution.
According to officials, “This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.”
