Anthony Seagroves, 32, of Hinesburg, Vermont, has been sentenced to 26 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The sentence was handed down by Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss on December 12, 2025.
Seagroves pleaded guilty on August 25, 2025, to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon stemming from an incident that occurred on October 14, 2024. According to court records, law enforcement encountered Seagroves twice in the last two weeks of October 2024 with loaded firearms he was prohibited from possessing.
The first encounter took place on October 14, when Burlington Police officers found Seagroves and others slouched over inside a running car parked at the Fletcher Free Library. Officers discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen. As they removed Seagroves from the driver’s seat, they observed a black and green pistol—later identified as a “ghost gun”—loaded with four rounds of PMC brand ammunition on the seat where he had been sitting. Because of his prior felony burglary conviction, Seagroves was barred from having firearms.
After being charged and released in Vermont Superior Court for this incident, Seagroves was again involved in another stolen vehicle case about a week later. On October 23, Hinesburg Police investigated after the owner of another stolen vehicle found it and saw Seagroves exiting the passenger seat. Officers subsequently located a loaded Sig Sauer P365 pistol on the passenger floorboard; this firearm had been reported stolen from Starksboro just one day earlier.
First Assistant United States Attorney Michael P. Drescher praised the work of several agencies involved: “I commend the investigatory efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Burlington Police Department, and the Hinesburg Police Department.”
Assistant United States Attorney Dana E. Hill prosecuted the case while Devin McLaughlin represented Seagroves.
This prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America—a national initiative led by the Department of Justice aimed at addressing illegal immigration issues and violent crime through collaboration among federal programs such as Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
