Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BERNARD McALLISTER, 42, of Lisbon, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to one count of possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on Nov. 13, 2010, McALLISTER possessed 19 firearms that he and another individual had stolen during a string of residential burglaries that took place between 2008 and 2010. The firearms were discovered in an East Lyme storage locker with more than 8,000 other items believed to have been taken during the burglaries.
Prior to Nov. 13, 2010, McALLISTER had been convicted of multiple felony offenses in several states, including burglary, robbery, breaking and entering, and making terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
Judge Underhill has scheduled sentencing for Aug. 29, 2013. McALLISTER is subject to the Armed Career Criminal Act, a federal law imposing severe penalties for firearm or ammunition possession by persons who have been convicted of at least three violent felonies or serious drug offenses. As an Armed Career Criminal, McALLISTER faces a minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.
McALLISTER has been detained since Nov. 18, 2010, when he was arrested in Massachusetts on related charges. After he was arrested, McALLISTER admitted that he had been planning to leave the country.
On May 24, 2013, McALLISTER pleaded guilty in state court to several charges related to the series of residential burglaries.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Connecticut State Police, the Massachusetts State Police, and the East Lyme, Greenwich, Madison, Guilford, Glastonbury, North Branford and Wallingford Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan S. Freimann and Robert M. Spector.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
