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A Helena man who pleaded guilty in April to illegally possessing a loaded AR-15 rifle on the grounds of the Montana State Capitol last December was sentenced Monday to nearly two years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.
Joshua Nzeyimana, 23, was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised relief. The previously convicted felon pleaded guilty in April to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person stemming from a January indictment.
According to federal investigators and prosecutors, Nzeyimana was under state supervision on Dec. 6. During a probation search of his vehicle, which was parked on Capitol grounds, a probation officer found an AR-15 inside the vehicle that was loaded with a 17-round magazine and had a round in the chamber.
He admitted to possessing the rifle and previously firing a single round in a field near Elk Park, in a rural area between Butte and Basin, according to the documents. He also said he had another person buy the rifle because he knew he could not.
He had been sentenced in June 2023 to a four-year suspended sentence after being convicted on one count of felony criminal endangerment and another count of felony assault with a weapon in a state district court.
The Montana Highway Patrol, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, Probation and Parole, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, an effort to reduce community gun violence and violent crime.