LOUISVILLE, KY – A federal grand jury in Louisville, KY returned an indictment yesterday charging a Louisville man, Patrick Wesley, age 37, with the illegal possession of a firearm in a school zone.
According to court documents, Wesley was indicted for possessing a handgun at Greenwood Elementary School on March 18, 2021.
The defendant will soon be scheduled for an initial court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. If convicted, Wesley faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge R. Shawn Morrow of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) made the announcement.
The ATF and LMPD are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Porter is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), 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.