Richmond man sentenced to prison for possession of machinegun

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond man was sentenced to two years in prison for possession of a machinegun after posting a picture of himself on social media with it.

According to court documents, on Aug. 25 in 2023, 21-year-old Latoye Octavius Cooper posted a picture of himself on social media with a .40 caliber pistol partially stuffed into the waistband of his pants.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, police immediately responded to the area where the photo was taken and saw Cooper getting into a vehicle.

Officers followed Cooper to a local convenience store and made contact with him inside the store. The officers then seized the .40 caliber pistol, which had a machine gun conversion device on it, which made the pistol fully automatic.

The office said the pistol was loaded, with a large capacity ammunition magazine and had one bullet in the chamber.

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