Whitright Pleas to Illegal Possession of Ammunition
COEUR D'ALENE – Chauncey Franklin Whitright IV, 33, of Plummer, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday in United States District Court in Coeur d'Alene to illegal possession of ammunition, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
According to the plea agreement, Whitright is prohibited from possessing ammunition because of his prior felony conviction for robbery on May 10, 2000, in Lake County, Montana. On December 11, 2011, while at another individual's home on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation, Whitright shot a handgun in the front yard and back yard. The defendant left the scene before police arrived. Coeur d'Alene Tribal police responded to the 911 call and interviewed witnesses. During the investigation, officers collected five spent shell casings marked “S&B 9MM.” Because this ammunition was manufactured in the Czech Republic, it traveled in foreign and interstate commerce.
The charge is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.
Sentencing is set for July 24, 2012, before Chief U.S. Chief District Judge Lynn B. Winmill at the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Coeur d'Alene Tribal Police.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a collaborative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent and deter gun violence.
