BILLINGS - A jury this week convicted an East Helena man of illegal possession of firearms after a two-day trial that began on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
The jury found Brandon Best Gordon, 32, guilty of felon in possession of a firearm. Gordon faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, of Wyoming, presided. Sentencing has not yet been set. Gordon was detained.
“Felons who possess firearms are a threat to a community’s safety. Mr. Gordon’s conviction sends the message that offenders will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want to thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart, the prosecution team and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol for their work on the case," U.S. Attorney Alme said.
The prosecution presented evidence at trial that Gordon, a convicted felon, possessed two stolen firearms in Park and Sweet Grass counties on July 17, 2018. The firearms were stolen two days earlier from a vehicle break-in in Great Falls. The firearms were identified as a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a.40 caliber semi-automatic pistol.
The firearms were in a backpack Gordon was carrying when he left a suspected drug house in Livingston and got into a vehicle that was being followed by Park County Sheriff’s Office detectives. A Montana Highway Patrol trooper, who was familiar with the vehicle and its driver from previous drug activity information, stopped the vehicle for traffic violations. Gordon was a passenger. Law enforcement served a state search warrant on the vehicle and found the backpack with the firearms. Gordon was convicted in 2012 of felony crimes in Montana.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette Stewart prosecuted the case which was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol. The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
