Alfonso Lee Seals, a resident of Woodbury, has been sentenced to 182 months in prison with an additional three years of supervised release. The sentence follows his conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon and interfering with commerce by robbery, as announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
Court documents reveal that on June 14, 2023, Minneapolis police responded to a shootout between two vehicles along University Avenue Northeast. Officers discovered an abandoned car that had crashed into a utility pole, where they found a Glock model 27 .40 caliber pistol equipped with an auto-sear device, making it fully automatic. Forensic tests confirmed the gun belonged to Alfonso Lee Seals, aged 28.
Further investigations led law enforcement to execute a search warrant at the home of Seals' brother on November 7, 2023. They recovered a stolen Taurus model G2S 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol from Mounds View, Minnesota. Forensic testing also linked this weapon to Seals.
On October 17, 2023, Seals and an accomplice committed armed robbery at a convenience store in Oakdale, Minnesota. Security footage captured Seals threatening the cashier with a semiautomatic firearm while demanding money from the cash register.
Seals pleaded guilty on December 23, 2024, to two counts of possession of a firearm as a felon and one count of interfering with commerce by robbery. In his plea agreement, he admitted to possessing both firearms and using the Glock during other felonies involving shooting incidents that endangered others' safety. He also confessed to robbing the convenience store and threatening the cashier's life.
Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick commented on the case: “Minnesotans should have no tolerance for armed and violent career criminals,” she said. “This behavior is shocking and unacceptable. My office will continue to hold Seals—and others who would terrorize our community—accountable.”
The sentencing took place today in U.S. District Court before Judge Donovan W. Frank.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Minneapolis Police Department, Oakdale Police Department, Dakota County Drug Task Force, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Homeland Security Investigations, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Campbell Warner prosecuted the case.