BOSTON, July 12, 2004 – LAWFUEL – A Springfield man was convicted Friday,
July 9, 2004, in federal court of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Paula C. Meara, Chief of
the Springfield Police Department, announced that WILFRED TOUSET, age 21, of
82 Westford Avenue, Springfield, was convicted by a jury sitting before U.S.
District Judge Michael A. Ponsor of one count of being a felon in possession
of a firearm.
Evidence presented during the four-day trial proved that TOUSET was in
possession of a .38 caliber Titan Tiger revolver on October 21, 2002, when two
Springfield police officers attempted to stop him on motor vehicle-related
charges. TOUSET stopped his car on Marshall Street in Springfield and ran
from the police after attempting to enter a nearby residence. During the foot
pursuit, TOUSET threw the gun to the ground in a vacant lot in the area of
Marshall and Melrose Streets, where the police recovered it.
Judge Ponsor scheduled sentencing for October 1, 2004. TOUSET faces up to
10 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a
$250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Springfield Police Department and is
being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. O’Connor, Jr. in
Sullivan’s Springfield Office as part of “Project Remove,” a cooperative
effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Hampden County District
Attorney’s Office to prosecute firearms violations in Hampden County.