FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
NICHOLAS ALLISON PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings on March 19, 2008, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, NICHOLAS ALLISON, age 19, pled guilty to possession of a stolen firearm. Sentencing is set for June 19, 2008. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On June 13, 2007, the Billings Police Department investigated a reported vehicle theft. While officers met with the complainant, the complainant observed the female he thought was the suspect and identified her to the officers. She began running away. As officers gave chase, they found her with a male individual in an alley. The two split up. An officer caught the male individual, who was later identified as ALLISON.
When questioned, ALLISON said he did not know the car was stolen and that the female said it was hers. As they spoke, another female walked up to the officers. This woman was carrying a black firearm and said she saw a male running past her residence and he had thrown the gun down there. She turned it over to the officer. The pistol was a black Desert Eagle "Baby Eagle" .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol. The firearm had previously been reported stolen in a burglary that occurred in April of 2007.
ALLISON admitted to possession of the firearm and said he had bought the firearm two or three days before he was caught with it. ALLISON stated that a girl he knew asked him if he wanted to buy a firearm from a guy she knew as "Johnny." ALLISON said he figured he could get the gun cheap and sell it for more. ALLISON said "Johnny" handled the gun with gloves and told him he needed to scrape the serial number off the gun because the gun was "hot." ALLISON said he took this to mean that the gun was stolen. ALLISON said he bought it anyway for $200.
ALLISON faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Zink prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Billings Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
# # # #
A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
