Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LEAH BOUCHER, 30, of Bristol, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 12 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally purchasing firearms for individuals she knew were felons.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on August 9, 2021, law enforcement conducted a court-authorized search of Tyrone Brown’s residence on Stevens Street in New Haven and seized a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Brown, who was a convicted felon and was prohibited by federal law from purchasing or possessing a firearm or ammunition, was arrested at that time. The investigation revealed that the firearm was registered to a family member of Boucher, and that Boucher had purchased 10 other firearms at various gun stores in Connecticut between 2018 and 2021. When investigators interviewed Boucher on August 26, 2021, she admitted that she had purchased firearms for other individuals, and that she was no longer in possession of any of the 10 firearms that were registered to her.
A search of Boucher’s iPhone revealed photos, taken in July 2021, of Brown and Alexander Patterson, also a convicted felon. In some of the photos, Patterson is seen handling the handgun that was recovered from Brown’s residence on August 9, 2021, and another handgun that investigators determined was registered to Boucher’s family member.
In September 2021, law enforcement recovered one of the 10 firearms that Boucher purchased from another felon. The other nine firearms have not been found.
Boucher was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on October 15, 2021, and has been detained since February 23, 2022, when her bond was revoked. On April 29, she pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a firearms dealer.
Brown pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and, on August 3, 2022, he was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment.
On May 24, 2022, Patterson, of Bristol, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms by a felon. He is detained while awaiting sentencing.
This matter is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the New Haven Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Gresham.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.