Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Jury Convicts Toledo Man of Firearms Crime
A Toledo man with a long criminal history was convicted by a jury of illegally having a firearm, law enforcement officials said.
Lawrence Lee Walls, 46, was convicted in federal court of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Walls is expected to be sentenced later this year. Walls qualifies for sentencing enhancements under the Armed Career Criminal Act due to his prior convictions.
Walls possessed a Hi-Point 9 mm Luger semi-automatic pistol in the 700 block of Tecumseh Street in Toledo on Oct. 16, 2015, according to evidence presented at trial.
Walls brandished the gun at others as police pulled up. He then fled and tossed the gun in some brush, where police later found it fully loaded, according to evidence presented at trial.
He was previously convicted of aggravated assault (1993); aggravated assault (1998); and aggravated robbery with a firearm specification, aggravated burglary with a firearm specification and robbery (2001), according to court documents.
The investigating agencies in this case were the Toledo Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Noah P. Hood and Tracey Ballard Tangeman.
This case is being prosecuted as part of "Project Safe Neighborhoods," a gun violence reduction program administered by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio. The program targets armed criminals for federal prosecution.