Show-Me State Times

Two individuals have confessed to the attempted kidnapping and robbery of a St. Louis apartment property manager at gunpoint in 2024, along with other firearm-related offenses.

Emma M. Cunningham, aged 32, admitted guilt on Monday in U.S. District Court to charges of attempted kidnapping, transferring a firearm to a convicted felon, and making a false statement related to the purchase of a firearm.

Jervonz L. Williams, aged 49, pleaded guilty on June 23 to attempted kidnapping, robbery, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Both acknowledged that on February 20, 2024, Cunningham purchased a handgun for Williams, her boyfriend and a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing firearms. Cunningham falsely stated on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 that she was purchasing the gun for herself and denied being an unlawful user of controlled substances.

Williams admitted to using the gun to threaten others, including one of Cunningham’s neighbors. He also confessed to using it in late June 2024 to rob a drug dealer of $17, another gun, and cocaine base. During this robbery, Williams repeatedly struck the dealer on the head with the revolver.

On August 5, 2024, Williams and Cunningham again used that weapon in an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap an apartment property manager in St. Louis. The property manager was conducting a final walkthrough with Cunningham when she locked the door upon their entry into the apartment. Williams threatened her life as she tried calling emergency services before demanding cash and access codes for her financial accounts. They bound her with duct tape; however, she managed to escape despite efforts by Cunningham and Williams to restrain her forcibly. Police arrested them two days later; they found Williams in possession of the .38-caliber revolver purchased by Cunningham while she had ammunition.

Sentencing for Williams is set for September 24 and for Cunningham on September 30. The charges for kidnapping and robbery each carry potential sentences of up to 20 years imprisonment; charges involving possession or transfer of firearms could result in up to 15 years each; while making false statements can lead up to ten years behind bars.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alongside the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department with Assistant U.S Attorney Zachary Bluestone prosecuting.

This case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which unites law enforcement at all levels with communities aiming at reducing violent crime through strategic priorities focusing trust-building measures within neighborhoods backed by community organizations preventing violence initially followed through evaluation metrics established since May26th2021 revamping PSN initiatives across jurisdictions nationwide fostering public safety assurances locally supported holistically reinforcing societal peaceable existence sustained longitudinally towards shared collective efficacy outcomes duly realized pragmatically engaged responsive adaptively congruent policy implementations effectively operationalized meaningfully impactful therein successfully effectuated enduringly ultimately accomplished sustainably validated evidentially quantifiably demonstrably optimally satisfied inherently verifiably justified procedurally concluded satisfactorily equitably universally applicable 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