A Mississippi man has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in federal prison for three gun-related crimes, including killing a dog while stealing thousands of dollars in silver bars and an AR-15 rifle during a St. Paul burglary in 2022.

Ladarius Jaleel Snipes, 27, of Cleveland, Miss., was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to charges in connection with the burglary along with the attempted armed robbery of a restaurant in Mississippi and illegally purchasing a semi-automatic pistol at a Twin Cities gun shop.

Ladarius Jaleel Snipes (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Snipes also has an aiding and abetting murder charge pending in Sunflower County, Miss., relating to a December 2019 killing of a 28-year-old man, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say the gun that Snipes used to kill a golden retriever in St. Paul was purchased through a “straw buyer” two months earlier at Bill’s Gun Shop and Range in Robbinsdale.

According to state and federal court charges, Snipes was seen on a doorbell camera Jan. 5, 2022, using a shovel to break a window to get into a home in the 2000 block of Margaret Street in St. Paul’s Conway neighborhood.

A camera inside the home showed the dog bark and run toward Snipes, who was not in camera view. The dog then paused in the dining room as if something had struck it. Snipes left with silver bars valued at nearly $7,700, the AR15 rifle and valuable trading cards.

The resident, a 43-year-old man, returned home and found his dog, Max, dead in the basement from a gunshot wound.

“The crime was not only inherently dangerous, but cruel and needlessly traumatizing,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court document prior to Friday’s sentencing hearing. “The victim was deprived not only of his possessions, and not only of his sense of safety and security in his own home — he was deprived of a loyal and gentle pet and companion.”

Investigators tied Snipes to the burglary with his fingerprint recovered from the shovel and by comparing the home surveillance video to photos from his social media accounts, charges say.

Illegal gun purchase

Snipes went to Minnesota to meet up with friend Kendarrius Keshaun Willard after Snipes attempted to rob Backyard Burgers in Cleveland, Miss., on Aug. 7, 2021, according to charges. Snipes demanded that a store employee give him money in the cash register. When one of the employees ran to the back of the kitchen, Snipes fired the pistol “to scare the employees,” charges say.

Three months later, in November 2021, Willard’s wife, Anna Trameri Novacheck signed an ATF form at Bill’s Gun Shop and Range, stating she was the buyer of a firearm, when she was really buying it for Snipes and Willard, charges say. Willard has prior felony convictions and is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Snipes was later photographed holding the firearm with an attached large-capacity magazine, charges say.

Snipes was sentenced last week on three convictions: discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, aiding and abetting a false statement during the purchase of a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm.

Meanwhile, for their roles in the illegal gun purchase, Novacheck, 28, was sentenced to three years of probation in September, while Willard, 27, received a 7½-year prison sentence in November.

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