MADISON, WIS. - Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Daniel Baccas, 22, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 30 months in federal prison for transferring a firearm to a prohibited person. Baccas pled guilty to the charge on April 7, 2023.
During an auto theft investigation in November and December 2021, law enforcement officers observed videos posted to social media depicting Baccas with suspected marijuana and firearms. One of the videos showed Baccas and another person taking turns holding a rifle. At the time the video was taken, both Baccas and the other person were prohibited from receiving firearms because both were facing felony criminal charges in Dane County Circuit Court. At his guilty plea hearing, Baccas admitted that he gave the person in the video the rifle and that he knew that person was under indictment at the time.
A subsequent search of Baccas’s residence yielded a Glock handgun with an “auto-sear" attachment, a 50-round drum magazine, and 690 grams of marijuana packaged for resale. An “auto-sear" is an illegal, after-market attachment that converts a semi-automatic Glock handgun into a machine gun. With the attachment, the firearm is capable of firing 50 rounds in four seconds with a single pull of the trigger.
The charge against Baccas was the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Sun Prairie Police Department, and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith P. Duchemin prosecuted this 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.