A Sioux Falls man has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for possessing a firearm illegally and receiving a firearm while under indictment. U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier handed down the sentence to Boru Guye Wako, Jr., 39, on September 15, 2025. In addition to the prison term, Wako will serve three years of supervised release and must pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Wako was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023 for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment. He was found guilty after a two-day jury trial on July 1, 2025.
The charges stem from an incident on March 8, 2023, when Sioux Falls Police received a report of a stolen vehicle driven by Wako. Detectives with the Sioux Falls Violent Crime Unit located him in the vehicle and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. Wako fled through a residential neighborhood before abandoning the car in an alleyway. When detectives approached again, he escaped on foot and then stole another vehicle. A search of the first abandoned vehicle led police to find a firearm in the driver’s side door, later confirmed by DNA analysis to have been handled by Wako. As someone previously convicted of a felony and under indictment for another felony at the time, Wako was legally barred from possessing firearms.
“This case is the result of powerful partnerships between local and federal law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell. “For nearly three years now, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has worked with the Sioux Falls Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to charge local violent offenders with federal firearm offenses whenever possible. Through federal prosecution, we have been removing violent offenders from the streets of Sioux Falls for significant periods of time, interrupting violence and keeping our community safe.”
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Sioux Falls Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Petersen and U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell.
Wako was immediately taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
