News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2006

New London Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Gun Charge

June W. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TRUMAINE WILSON, age 21, of 28 Willetts Avenue, New London, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to one count of an Indictment charging him with possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

According to documents filed with the Court, on the night of December 1, 2005, officers of the New London Police Department were conducting an investigation into a reported hit and run accident. The investigation related to a dark colored vehicle with tinted windows having struck and killed an individual and then having fled the scene. In the course of the investigation, New London police officers had occasion to approach a dark-colored motor vehicle that was parked near the intersection of Wall and Summer Streets. An individual was observed exiting the vehicle, and, when the officers advised him they wanted to talk to him, the individual ran. After a lengthy foot pursuit, officers caught WILSON. During the chase, the officers had observed WILSON throw something into a yard, and the item, a clear plastic bag containing suspected marijuana, was subsequently recovered. The focus of the investigation changed from the hit and run accident to possible narcotic activity.

During a search of the car from which WILSON was seen running, police seized from the trunk of the vehicle a fully loaded IMI Model Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol. WILSON then admitted during an interview with law enforcement that he was in possession of the weapon because a “friend” asked him to help him confront another person. WILSON explained that he had retrieved the firearm and then proceeded to a location to meet up with his friend. WILSON stated that he and others walked to a location in New London where he was to serve as back-up in the event that the situation “got out of hand.” Thereafter, WILSON’s friends ran over and robbed two individuals at gunpoint.

Prior to December 1, 2005, WILSON had been convicted in the Connecticut Superior Court of both criminal possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

Judge Thompson has scheduled sentencing for December 20, 2006, at which time WILSON faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, together with officers of the New London Police Department.