District of Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Richfield man has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm with an attached "switch," making it a fully automatic weapon, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, on October 14, 2022, law enforcement attempted to arrest Vatthana Andy Sengsouriya, 28, on an outstanding warrant. When officers tried to take Sengsouriya into custody in the parking lot of the Eden Prairie Home Depot, he fled in his vehicle. Officers pursued Sengsouriya and were able to stop his vehicle with a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) maneuver, but Sengsouriya fled his vehicle on foot and ran into the woods. After a brief foot chase, law enforcement apprehended Sengsouriya and took him into custody. Officers searched a cross-body bag Sengsouriya was wearing and found 115 grams of cocaine, some of which was packaged into smaller bags meant for distribution, and a Glock Model 21 .45 caliber pistol with a switch attached to it, which transformed the handgun into a fully automatic weapon.

Sengsouriya pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court before Judge Kate M. Menendez to one count of possession of a firearm as a felon. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the DEA, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the Eden Prairie Police Department, and the Southwest Hennepin Drug Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Albania Concepcion and Lauren O. Roso are prosecuting the case.