ST. LOUIS – A Ferguson man who was caught with a gun while fleeing St. Louis police was sentenced in federal court Wednesday.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Anthony Willis was convicted on Nov. 16, 2022, of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The incident occurred on July 19, 2021. Willis, now 30, refused to pull over for police after going through a stop sign in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood.

Willis drove through another stop sign, prompting St. Louis police to deploy spike strips to deflate his tires. Willis continued driving and then crashed into another vehicle at Goodfellow and Natural Bridge. He fled on foot, but was arrested almost immediately.

Police found a loaded .40 caliber handgun in the car.

Willis was convicted in 2010 of a robbery at a Del Taco in the city, and of robbing the manager of a St. Louis County Popeye’s restaurant. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was on parole at the time of his arrest in July 2021.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Willis to 19 years in federal prison.