Wilkinsburg Felon Sentenced to Prison for Unlawfully Possessing a Firearm

PITTSBURGH, PA - A resident of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to three years and two months (38 months) in prison and three years’ supervised release on his conviction of violating federal firearms laws, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

Chief United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak imposed the sentence on Mitchell Thompson, 21.

According to information presented to the court, on August 30, 2018, law enforcement officials were performing a saturation patrol detail in Wilkinsburg in response to a recent homicide and several shootings. Upon seeing an unmarked police vehicle, Thompson threw a loaded Glock 9 millimeter pistol onto the sidewalk near a row of bushes. Thompson was arrested and it was later determined that the firearm had been reported stolen. The court was further informed that Thompson was previously convicted of crimes punishable by more than one year in prison, including one conviction for a firearms violation and one conviction for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance. Federal law prohibits anyone who has been convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year from lawfully possessing a firearm or ammunition..

Assistant United States Attorney Christy C. Wiegand prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the Bureau and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Wilkinsburg Police Department, conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Thompson.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods (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.