Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Rochester man, described by federal prosecutors as a career criminal, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.

The Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota says 24-year-old Divaunte Kartrell Young was indicted on the charge in connection with an incident that occurred in Rochester in the spring of 2023. According to a news release, Young was being “chauffeured” around the city by the victim, and at the end of the day, he asked her to drive him to the Twin Cities.

After the victim refused, Young displayed a gun, threatened to shoot the woman, and allegedly asked her, “What if I shot your brain?”

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Federal prosecutors say the badly frightened woman managed to flee from her car in freezing mid-March temperatures before she was able to call police from a gas station. Responding officers found Young sleeping in the woman’s vehicle and discovered he was in possession of a black and silver Taurus 9mm handgun.

It was also alleged that Young contacted the victim from jail and asked her to lie about what had happened. Prosecutors say he then attempted to bribe her with money when she refused his request.

Young was brought to trial in March of this year and was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The news release issued by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota says Young has a long and violent criminal history, including felony convictions for domestic assault, aggravated robbery, burglary, and assault of a corrections officer.

It also states that in four of those cases, he was placed on probation but “absconded from supervision.”

“Career criminals are not in charge of Minnesota,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “Young threatened this victim with a gun and then tried to bribe his way out of accountability. Acts of violence and corruption like this will always end the same way—with years in federal prison.”

In handing down the 15-year prison sentence today, the federal judge in the case described Young as “a great danger to the public” who had “no respect for the law.”

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