Road Rage Incident leads to Capture, Conviction and Sentencing for Felon in Possession of a Firearm

United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Leslie Graber, 34, of Bellevue, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha as a felon in possession of a firearm.  Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., sentenced Graber to 68 months’ imprisonment for the firearm possession.  At the time of the offense, Graber was being monitored on federal supervised release for a prior conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm in November 2019.  Graber’s supervision was revoked, and he was sentenced to an additional 16 months’ imprisonment for a total sentence of 84 months in the Bureau of Prisons.  Graber will serve an additional 3-year term of supervised release following his release.  There is no parole in the federal system.    

On August 13, 2020, Bellevue Police responded to a call involving a road rage incident where the victim stated that the suspect pointed a gun at him. The victim explained that he was behind a blue car driving northbound on Highway 75.  While he was behind the car, it slammed on its breaks to possibly “brake check” him, so he went around the suspect car to pass him. As they neared the off-ramp to Chandler Road in Bellevue and the cars were parallel, the driver, Graber, displayed a firearm.  Graber tossed the firearm at some point after the incident.  The next day, August 14, 2020, Bellevue Police Department Officers were dispatched to Old Towne Bellevue in reference to a party finding a firearm. Upon arrival, officers were directed to a Glock model 17 handgun which was lying on the grass along the northwest corner of the caller’s property.  A DNA analysis performed on the firearm showed a match to the DNA of Graber.  The gun was also reported as stolen from a home burglary.

On January 15, 2021, a warrant for violations of supervised release was issued for Graber.  On February 20, 2021, Graber had additional felony warrants issued for him in Sarpy County, Nebraska for being a felon in possession of a firearm, use of a weapon to commit a felony, terroristic threats, assault, and theft. This incident involved Graber threatening an individual with a pistol while wearing ‘Police’ marked body armor.  He was subsequently convicted in Sarpy County District Court of attempted use of a firearm and terroristic threats and sentenced to 5-10 years in the Nebraska Department of Corrections.

This case was investigated by the Bellevue Police Department and was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.