Joseph Harrison, a 36-year-old resident of Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The sentencing was announced by Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Harrison pleaded guilty to the charge on June 11, 2025. The case stems from an incident on April 9, 2024, when Harrison pointed a loaded handgun at a woman during a dispute and threatened to shoot her. He then left the scene in another woman's car. At the time of the incident, Harrison was under state supervision due to a prior criminal offense and was being monitored with GPS technology. Law enforcement officers tracked him down, arrested him, and searched the vehicle he had used. A loaded Beretta .22 caliber handgun was found under the seat where Harrison had been sitting.
Because of his previous felony convictions, Harrison is legally prohibited from possessing firearms.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge William M. Conley commented on Harrison's criminal history: "disastrous path for everyone, society most of all." Judge Conley also highlighted that Harrison had spent about 17 years in and out of jail or prison and noted his record of violence toward women. "Judge Conley found a substantial sentence of 6 ½ years was necessary to protect the public."
The investigation into this case involved both the La Crosse Police Department and the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force. This task force includes federal agents from ATF along with officers from various state and local agencies across the Western District of Wisconsin. The prosecution team included Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Ginsberg, Jennifer Remington, and Corey Stephan.
Federal firearms cases such as this are prosecuted as part of Operation Take Back America—a national initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration, dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and addressing violent crime in communities by coordinating resources through programs like Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
