BOISE – In unrelated cases, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush sentenced two people today for possessing firearms in a federal facility, a Class A misdemeanor, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. In separate proceedings, each of the women admitted to carrying a weapon concealed in her purse into the James A. McClure Federal Building and United States Courthouse last year. In each case, the weapon was discovered by court security officers when the woman placed her purse on the lobby scanner.

Suzanne Dawn Cummins, 41, of Murphy, Idaho, was fined $500 for carrying a Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol loaded with a magazine containing six bullets into the building on July 22, 2011. She pleaded guilty to the charge on December 8. At sentencing today, Cummins apologized to the court for the problems she caused as a result of having brought the firearm into the Courthouse. She explained that it had been at the bottom of her purse for a long time, and she simply had forgotten that she was carrying it until it showed up on the scanner.

Christina Marie Landon, 37, of Nampa, Idaho, pleaded guilty to carrying a weapon into the Federal Building on August 3, 2011. She was fined $300. Landon, who holds a Idaho concealed weapon permit, admitted that she knew a firearm could not be taken into the courthouse, but did not realize she had the loaded Ruger .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun with her in her purse. Landon was accompanied by three of her minor children when she went to the Federal Building to drop off some documents for the court.

The cases were investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service.