Louisiana Felon Pleads Guilty to Firearms Charges After Police Found He Had a Rifle in His Vehicle

Louisiana – On Friday, December 2, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on November 21, 2022, Laurance Wilson, age 28, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana pleaded guilty as charged to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Wilson was exiting an automobile on April 29, 2020, in Slidell, Louisiana, when gunfire erupted near the vehicle, according to court filings. Wilson had placed a Del-Ton Inc. DTI-15 5.56 mm caliber rifle in the trunk of the vehicle prior to the gunfire. Wilson was barred from carrying the rifle because he was convicted of simple robbery in the 19th Judicial District of Louisiana in 2014.

Wilson faces a potential penalty of ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and a $100 obligatory special assessment fee.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve together to minimize violent crime and gun violence and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy to strengthen PSN on May 26, 2021, based on the following core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Slidell Police Department all looked into the case. The prosecution was conducted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan L. Shih and Mike Trummel.