Biography
Steven Pennycooke was a defendant charged and later convicted in a federal gun case that prosecutors explicitly linked to “June 2020 civil unrest” in Philadelphia. The public record in DOJ releases frames his case as part of enforcement actions during a period of curfews, looting, and unrest.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Pennycooke (previously convicted of a felony) was arrested after police investigated a tip about an attempted theft of an ATM during a mandatory citywide curfew and encountered him and another man; he was charged federally with unlawful firearm possession. DOJ press releases report that he was later found guilty by a jury of illegally possessing a firearm during the unrest and was sentenced in 2022 to more than four years in federal prison.
