BISMARCK - U.S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on Nov. 19, 2012, Michael W. Gourneau, 32, of Belcourt, N.D., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patrick A. Conmy on a charge of possession of firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.

Judge Conmy sentenced Gourneau to serve two years and nine months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Gourneau was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund.

During the early evening hours of Dec. 13, 2011, Bureau of Indian Affairs officers (Turtle Mountain Agency) responded to a report of a firearm being discharged in a residence in Shell Valley Housing, Belcourt, N.D. Upon arrival, officers discovered that Gourneau had verbally threatened individuals in the home and fired a .357 magnum caliber revolver into the floor causing damage to a water line.

Gourneau was prohibited from possessing either a firearm or ammunition by virtue of his previous convictions for corruption or solicitation of a minor, in Ward County, N.D., in 2008; a controlled substance crime in the fifth degree, in Polk County, Minn., in 2008; and failure to appear for court, in Polk County, Minn., in 2008.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Turtle Mountain Agency.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hagler prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

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