United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS, MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN FEDERAL COURT
TO FEDERAL FIREARMS CHARGE

LUBBOCK, Texas — Casey Paul Jurgens, who was arrested in May near Angelo State University, in San Angelo, Texas, with a sawed-off shotgun under his trench coat and 18 rounds of ammunition on his person, pled guilty on Thursday to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Jurgens entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings who ordered a pre-sentence investigation with sentencing to be scheduled after that investigation is completed. Jurgens, 19, who has been in custody since his arrest, faces a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to documents filed in the case, Jurgens admitted that on May 7, 2007, he knowingly possessed a firearm made from a Boito, 12 gauge single-shot shotgun, serial number 626086, with a barrel length of approximately 15 inches and an overall length of approximately 22 inches, not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

On May 6, 2007, San Angelo Police Department officers received a report of a suspicious individual, believed to be Casey Paul Jurgens, at the Christian Faith Center, 1414 N. Chadbourne Street in San Angelo. The next day, a deputy constable of Tom Green County observed an individual matching Jurgens’s description at 1120 Avenue N. in San Angelo. Jurgens was wearing a black, full-length trench coat and acting in a suspicious manner. Upon spotting the deputy constable, Jurgens entered Fairmont Cemetery but was followed by officers who found him hiding behind a tombstone. As officers approached Jurgens, he attempted to retrieve an object from beneath his trench coat, but was unsuccessful. Officers then handcuffed Jurgens.

When frisking Jurgens, officers discovered the above-referenced weapon which was attached to Jurgens’s belt by a wire so that it could hang and be easily concealed beneath his trench coat. Officers also found 18 rounds of 12 gauge ammunition on Jurgens’s person.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the San Angelo Police Department, the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office, the Tom Green County Constable’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Jeffrey R. Haag of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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