Baton Rouge Man Pleads Guilty to Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on November 21, 2022, LAURANCE WILSON, age 28, of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty as charged to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court records, WILSON exited a vehicle on April 29, 2020, in Slidell, Louisiana, when gun fire erupted near the vehicle. Prior to the gun shots, WILSON had placed a Del-Ton Inc. DTI-15 5.56 mm caliber rifle in the trunk of the vehicle. WILSON was prohibited from possessing the rifle, as he had been convicted of simple robbery in 2014, in the 19th Judicial District of Louisiana.
WILSON faces a maximum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, up to 3 years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Slidell Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan L. Shih and Mike Trummel handled the prosecution.
