A Whitefield man pleaded guilty Tuesday, Jan. 7 in federal court in Bangor to being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.
According to court records, on April 22, 2019, a Winthrop Police Department detective saw an individual, later identified as Samuel Caison, 36, carrying what appeared to be a firearm wrapped up in material in Augusta. The individual placed the firearm in the trunk of a car.
Officers with the Augusta Police Department later located Caison driving the car and pulled him over. Officers found a .22 caliber rifle in the trunk.
Caison was prohibited from possessing firearms due to multiple prior felony convictions, including convictions for robbery in 2005, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm in 2010, and terrorizing in 2013.
Caison faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The Augusta Police Department, the Winthrop Police Department, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.
Through Project Safe Neighborhoods, 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, Project Safe Neighborhoods focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, visit justice.gov/psn.
