Lewiston Man Sentenced to Eight Years for Unlawful Possession of a Handgun

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Tony Leonard, a/k/a “Tom Cat,” 49, of Lewiston, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge George Z. Singal to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  The defendant pled guilty on November 1, 2018.

According to court records, on August 17, 2017, members of the Lewiston Police Department executed a narcotics-related search warrant at Leonard’s Lewiston residence and seized a Glock .40 caliber handgun and a loaded magazine.  Leonard was prohibited from possessing the firearm because of prior felony convictions for aggravated forgery, aggravated assault and drug trafficking.

The case was investigated by the Lewiston Police Department, with assistance provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).  PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.