Arthur Brown, Iii and Cory Luwayne Brown Plead Guilty in U.S. Federal Court
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls on July 16, 2009, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, ARTHUR BROWN, III, age 28, and CORY LUWAYNE BROWN, age 26, residents of Poplar, pled guilty to possession of stolen firearms. Sentencing for each is set for October 19, 2009. ARTHUR BROWN, III is currently released on special conditions. CORY LUWAYNE BROWN is detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah K. French, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On September 2, 2008, P.T.D. reported that someone had broken into his house over the weekend and stolen a number of items, including two books of checks and a number of firearms. P.T.D. reported that someone had cashed checks from the stolen checkbook at the B&S Quick Stop in Brockton.
When interviewed by law enforcement, the clerk who cashed the checks described the two male individuals and said they were frequent customers. The clerk described the car they usually arrived in and advised that he believed they were the Brown brothers.
When questioned on September 2, 2008, ARTHUR BROWN admitted that on August 30th, while walking down an alley on the north side of P.T.D.'s house, he noticed a blanket rolled up and lying by a garbage can. He looked in the blanket because it looked like it might contain rifles. He admitted that the blanket was wrapped around four rifles, two pairs of binoculars, a bone-handled knife and two checkbooks. ARTHUR asked his brother, CORY BROWN, to help carry the guns and other items to their parents' house. ARTHUR and CORY put the rifles, binoculars, and knife on the floor under a seat in a disabled van in the front yard of their parents' house.
On September 2, 2008, the rifles, knife, and binoculars which were hidden under some blankets were recovered from the van.
They each face possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Fort Peck Tribal Police.
A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
