Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

MADISON, WIS. -- John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Michael V. Pierce, 40, Spring Valley, Wis., was sentenced to a cumulative 54 months in federal prison following two federal court hearings yesterday. First, Pierce appeared before U.S. District Judge Lynn S. Adelman, who sentenced Pierce to 42 months for possessing a firearm in January 2014 while a felon.

Pierce pleaded guilty to this offense on May 20, 2014. Judge Adelman noted that the defendant had been involved in a violent domestic dispute before retrieving the loaded shotgun and indicated that a prison term was necessary to deter Pierce from committing additional crimes and to protect the community.

At the time Pierce illegally possessed the firearm described above, he was on federal supervised release following 2002 federal convictions for firearm and drug offenses. Yesterday, Pierce also appeared before U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to address Pierce’s violations of his supervised release conditions. In addition to the January 2014 firearm offense, Pierce stipulated to using drugs and failing to attend drug treatment sessions.

Judge Conley revoked Pierce’s supervised release and imposed a 12-month sentence for the violations, to run consecutively to the sentence imposed by Judge Adelman.

The charge against Pierce was the result of an investigation conducted by the Spring Valley Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea.