HELENA — A Helena man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally possessing a gun.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in a news release that Chaz Dean Cox, 29, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Great Falls.
Cox pleaded guilty in September 2025 to one count of possessing a firearm while prohibited from doing so.
Prosecutors said Cox was convicted of felony burglary and drug possession in 2019, and he was not allowed to own a gun because of those convictions. They said officers arrested him in Helena in March 2024 on outstanding warrants, and that when they found a loaded pistol when they searched a vehicle he was using.
Prosecutors say Cox denied possessing the gun, but that a co-defendant admitted it belonged to Cox and that the two had tried to come up with another story so he would not get in trouble for having it.
After his prison sentence, Cox will spend five years on supervised release.
