BILLINGS — A person at the moment admitted to illegally possessing firearms after two weapons utilized in a on line casino theft had been recovered from an elementary faculty playground, U.S. Lawyer Jesse Laslovich mentioned.
Darwin Dalton Sutherland, 29, a transient, pleaded responsible to prohibited particular person in possession of a firearm. Sutherland faces a most of 10 years in jail, a $250,000 high quality and three years of supervised launch.
U.S. District Choose Susan P. Watters presided. The courtroom will decide any sentence after contemplating the U.S. Sentencing Tips and different statutory components. Choose Watters set sentencing for March 16, 2023. Sutherland was detained pending additional proceedings.
The federal government alleged in courtroom paperwork that on March 20, Makayla Fetter and Taliah Ramirez robbed the Magic Diamond On line casino within the Billings Heights at gunpoint, tried to flee regulation enforcement and crashed their automotive right into a fence at Ponderosa Elementary Faculty. Fetter was arrested whereas Ramirez initially obtained away. Each of the firearms used within the theft had been ditched earlier than officers arrived. Officers recovered one of many firearms that night time on the college’s playground. The subsequent day, an elementary faculty pupil discovered the second firearm and took it to a instructor.
The federal government additional alleged that officers ultimately questioned Fetter and Ramirez, who said that they’d acquired the firearms from Sutherland. An investigation discovered that each firearms had been reported stolen as a part of 12 firearms stolen in a residential housebreaking in Billings on March 17. When questioned by regulation enforcement, Sutherland admitted to possessing all 12 stolen firearms and to figuring out they had been stolen however claimed that he didn’t burglarize the residence. He additionally admitted to giving the weapons to Fetter and Ramirez. Sutherland is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a felony conviction for housebreaking in Cascade County. Fetter and Ramirez are pending sentencing after pleading responsible to theft affecting commerce and firearms crimes.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Colin M. Rubich prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI.
This case is a part of Mission Secure Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing collectively all ranges of regulation enforcement and the communities they serve to cut back violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everybody. On Might 26, 2021, the Division launched a violent crime discount technique strengthening PSN based mostly on these core ideas: fostering belief and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that assist stop violence from occurring within the first place, setting targeted and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the outcomes.
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