North Platte Man Sentenced for Possession of a Firearm After a Domestic Violence Conviction
United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that on July 10, 2012, a North Platte man was sentenced to 11 months in prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Wesley Hardin Hawkins, age 43 of North Platte, was arrested by officers of the North Platte Police Department on September 15, 2011, after a North Platte resident reported Hawkins was in her residence and that Hawkins had a handgun in his possession. Officers found Hawkins sleeping in a bed in the woman’s residence with the butt of a revolver sticking out from under the pillow. Hawkins had a 2005 conviction in Lincoln County, Nebraska, for Third Degree Domestic Assault, which made him ineligible to possess a firearm.
This case was investigated by the CODE Task Force which is made up of law enforcement agencies throughout a 22-county area in west-central/southwest Nebraska and includes the North Platte Police Department, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Red Willow County Sheriff’s Office, Frontier County Sheriff’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
