Owatonna man sentenced to less than 3 years in prison for sawed-off shotgun

Emily Cutts, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Jan. 19—MINNEAPOLIS — The Owatonna man who pleaded guilty to possessing a sawed-off shotgun after he told undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents about it was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2022, to less than three years in federal prison.

Dayton Charles Sauke, 23, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis by Judge Nancy E. Brasel to 31 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Sauke pleaded guilty in August 2021 to possession of an unregistered firearm. Federal law requires shotguns with reduced barrels and overall lengths, also known as sawed-off shotguns, be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. The shotgun was not registered to Sauke.

Sauke had been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 15, 2021, after a judge ruled there was no set of restrictions to impose that would reasonably ensure public safety if Sauke were released.

The investigation into Sauke was started by the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, which received information that he was selling narcotics and privately made firearms, which he described as "untraceable" and "throwaway murder pieces," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Minnesota.

On Jan. 15, 2021, Sauke sold undercover ATF agents a privately made firearm. During the sale, ATF agents saw the sawed-off shotgun in Sauke's vehicle and when asked about it, he showed it to the agents, according to the plea agreement.

Court records indicate that Sauke said he had the sawed-off shotgun for "bragging rights" and referred to the firearm as "his baby."

Prosecutors asked for a 33-month sentence, arguing, in part, that if the contraband being sold had been controlled substances, there would be no question that the possession of a sawed-off shotgun was in connection to the offense. The enhancement was not adopted by the court.

"Practically speaking, if the transaction were to have gone awry in any way, the defendant had the sawed-off shotgun easily accessible to him in order to make sure the transaction went smoothly," the government's sentencing memorandum reads.

Sauke was on probation at the time of his arrest for carrying a firearm in public.