Brockton Man Sentenced to 15 Years on Weapons Charges

BOSTON, MA—A 27-year-old Brockton man was sentenced today to a 15-year term of imprisonment for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Evidence presented during the five-day trial proved that on the evening of September 3, 2009, members of the Massachusetts State Police were driving an unmarked cruiser in Brockton when they saw a black Lincoln speeding. After following it for more than half a mile, the officers noticed the vehicle backing out of a driveway on Exchange Street in Brockton. The police officers pulled their vehicle to the side of the road to wait for the Lincoln to emerge. While they were waiting, they heard multiple gunshots immediately behind them and within seconds, they saw the defendant, MICHAEL W. VIRDEN jogging past their unmarked cruiser, carrying a silver pistol in his right hand. The officers immediately turned on their police lights, and Virden fled down the road and behind 37 Exchange Street. After evading the police for several seconds in the backyard of 37 Exchange Street, Virden threw the silver firearm onto the roof of a nearby building. The police later found the firearm and matched it to shell casings located in the vicinity of where Virden had fired the weapon outside 25-27 Exchange Street.

Virden was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro to a 15-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release.

This sentence was announced today by United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office; Eugenio A. Marquez, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Boston Field Division; Massachusetts State Police Colonel Marian J. McGovern; Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, and Brockton Police Chief William K. Conlon.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Brockton Police Department, with assistance from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd F. Braunstein of Ortiz’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Maxim Grinberg of the Major Crimes Unit.