ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a gang leader and felon to 200 months consecutive in prison for illegally selling guns to an undercover agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives before setting up the agent’s robbery.Joseph Burchett, 26, of St.
Louis, pleaded guilty in March to one count of aiding and abetting firearms trafficking, one count of robbery of an undercover federal agent and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to that plea agreement and a sentencing memo filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj, Burchett sold a Glock to the agent on April 30, 2024. The agent was accompanied by Burchett’s co-defendant, Cryland Robinson, who was armed with an AR-style rifle.
Burchett obtained the gun from fellow gang member Terrence Robinson. The agent had already bought three guns and methamphetamine from Cryland Robinson. At that meeting, Burchett said he had a fully automatic Glock for sale. Burchett then set up sales and used teenagers to conduct the transactions.On May 14, Burchett arranged for the sale of a fully automatic Glock 19 equipped with a drum magazine.
Burchett next arranged for the sale of another fully automatic pistol and fentanyl, while secretly planning to rob the agent. On August 1, co-defendant Todd Lumpkins got into the back seat of the agent’s car. The agent, reluctant to hand over money without seeing the firearm, gave about half of the promised $1,100 to Lumpkins. Burchett and the agent were on the phone during the transaction.
Lumpkins left the agent’s car and retrieved the pistol, while Burchett told the agent, “If I was you, I would have just gave it to him.” Lumpkins returned, opened the car door while brandishing the gun and stole the rest of the cash from the agent. That agent, in a letter to Judge Ross, wrote, “When Burchett said that to me over the phone, I thought there was a significant chance I was about to lose my life.” Burchett and his co-conspirators then fled from police. “Joseph Burchett illegally sold fully automatic weapons and put society at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C.
Albus. “When he set up the robbery of an undercover ATF agent, he risked the life of someone who was doing nothing more than trying to protect the rest of us. This sentence should send a message that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated.”"This job asks a lot of the people who do it," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Bernard "Butch" Hansen of the Kansas City Field Division. "These defendants showed they were willing to use violence to advance their criminal enterprise, even against a federal undercover agent.
I am grateful our undercover agent walked away safely from a situation that could have ended very differently. ATF agents accept extraordinary risks to take violent offenders and illegal firearms off our streets, and today's sentencing ensures everyone who played a role in this case has been held accountable."Burchett was one of four men to plead guilty in the case. Cryland Robinson, 36, of St. Louis, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Todd Lumpkins, 20, of St. Louis, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Terrence Robinson, 35, of St. Louis, was sentenced to 46 months.The case was investigated by the ATF.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj prosecuted the case. 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.