A Kenyan national has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama.
In a press release on Monday, April 6, 2026, the attorney’s office said that the conviction forms part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration, transnational crime, and firearms violations.
Stanley Amalemba Ambeyi pleaded guilty in November 2025 to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala handed down the sentence on Monday.
“According to the record at Ambeyi’s change-of-plea hearing, on April 11, 2025, an officer with the Birmingham Police Department initiated a traffic stop on Ambeyi. The officer observed a box of ammunition in the vehicle,” reads part of the release.
Kenyan man sentenced in Alabama for firearm offense
When questioned, Ambeyi denied having a firearm. However, upon further inspection, officers recovered a .22LR revolver manufactured by Amadeo Rossi.
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Ambeyi was arrested on the spot, and prosecutors later presented evidence that the Kenyan national had previously attempted to entice a person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl into sex for money in November 2024.
Charges related to that conduct remain pending in Blount County Circuit Court.
“The case was investigated by the ATF along with the Birmingham Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys John B. Ward and Ryan S. Rummage prosecuted the case.”
The case falls under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative designed to “repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”
The program has emphasized strict enforcement of firearms laws, particularly against individuals residing unlawfully in the United States.
Ambeyi’s sentencing adds to a list of other high-profile cases involving Kenyan nationals in the United States.
In December 2025, Staff Sgt. John Gitau Mwangi, a Kenyan-born soldier stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the unpremeditated murder of his wife, Sgt. Esther N. Gitau.
The non-commissioned officer pleaded guilty to the unpremeditated murder of his wife during his court-martial on December 12 at the Lawrence Williams Judicial Center.
Other convictions
The military judge sentenced Gitau to 26 years in prison, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction in rank to E-1, and a dishonorable discharge from the Army.
On February 21, 2025, Mwangi and his wife were in an argument at their home in Killeen, Texas, when it turned deadly.
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The aircraft structural repairer assigned to 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, shot his wife several times and then left the home with the victim locked in the primary bedroom.
While in his vehicle, Mwangi called his brother and informed him of the shooting. The brother notified authorities, who located the victim’s body upon arriving at Mwangi’s residence.
The next day, the 43-year-old was apprehended by military police when he tried to enter the gate at Fort Hood.
Local authorities notified the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division investigators, who found blood, DNA, and other forensic evidence, which led to Mwangi being charged with unpremeditated murder by the Army on April 2, 2025.
Earlier, in Alabama, federal prosecutors secured convictions in one of Birmingham’s largest cocaine and heroin trafficking rings. While the case primarily involved U.S. citizens, records show that individuals of Kenyan descent were among those prosecuted.
In 2016, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced sentences ranging from two years to more than 24 years for members of the ring, which operated with ties to international drug networks.
