Federal Grand Jury Indicts Bowling Green Felon for Illegally Possessing a Firearm

Bowling Green, KY – A federal grand jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky, returned an indictment on February 14, 2024, charging a Bowling Green man with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.    

U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Field Division, and Chief Mike Delaney of the Bowling Green Police Department made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Christopher B. Cornell, 40, possessed a Taurus PT111 Millennium G2, nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, and ammunition. Cornell was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.

On February 18, 2019, in Warren Circuit Court, Cornell was convicted of third-degree burglary.

On October 19, 2015, in Warren Circuit Court, Cornell was convicted of third-degree assault and third-degree burglary.

The defendant appeared for his arraignment yesterday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The defendant remains in federal custody pending trial. If convicted, Cornell faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is being investigated by the ATF Bowling Green Field Office and the Bowling Green Police Department. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Yurchisin II, of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office, is prosecuting this case.

This case is 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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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