U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana issued the following announcement on March 20.
A Missoula man who posed with guns on a Facebook page was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release for illegal possession of firearms, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Brandon Richmond Turner, 29, pleaded guilty in December to prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided.
The prosecution said in court documents that Turner was convicted of a felony in Lake County in January 2017 and prohibited from possessing firearms. In June 2019, Turner’s state probation officer received information that a Facebook page for a sporting goods company in Hamilton had pictures of Turner posing with firearms. The company’s owner reported that Turner had posed for the photographs but that no one at the company knew Turner had a felony conviction. Turner admitted to his probation officer that he had retrieved his own AR-style rifle and a pistol from a friend, who had agreed to keep his guns when he got convicted. The AR rifle appeared to be the same gun Turner held in one of the photos on the Facebook page.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Racicot prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This case is part of Project Guardian, a Department of Justice initiative launched in the fall of 2019 to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Through Project Guardian, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Montana is working to enhance coordination of its federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement partners in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes. In addition, Project Guardian supports information sharing and taking action when individuals are denied a firearm purchase by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for mental health reasons or because they are a prohibited person.
Original source can be found here.
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