CASPER, Wyo. — A Wyoming man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to minutes of the hearing at U.S. District Court in Cheyenne.
Richard Joseph McCloskey, who was 35 when arrested in Casper in August, entered the plea to the sole count before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Freudenthal.
She set June 6 for McCloskey’s sentencing. He remains in custody.
Penalties for being a felon in possession of a firearm include up to 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, three years of supervised probation after release from custody and a $100 special assessment.
McCloskey was scheduled to go to trial Monday, but he decided to plead guilty instead.
The case began on Aug. 15 when a man staying at a local hotel reported to Casper Police that someone took firearms and currency from his locked vehicle. The theft victim was the owner of Pathfinder Defense and possessed a Federal Firearms License.
According to a Casper police report, he found the following items missing:
- MP7 machine pistol and Glock 9mm
- Ammunition
- Twenty 1-ounce South African Kruggerands (gold coins)
The next day, a Casper Police detective observed a man, later determined to be McCloskey, on a security camera pawning two Kruggerands at a local pawn shop. He received $3,100 for them. The CPD report indicates McCloskey may have spent that sum on 300–400 fentanyl pills.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Oct. 30 by an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the detective learned from store employees that McCloskey planned to return to pawn more coins.
With the assistance of the Patrol Division, McCloskey was safely taken into custody and the fully automatic firearm and gold coins, valued at about $100,000, were recovered.
Police also learned that the pickup he was driving was stolen, a female passenger was inside and used syringes and the stolen MP7 machine pistol were also inside, according to the criminal complaint.
Further investigations determined that McCloskey was convicted of burglary in Wyoming in 2016.
The Casper Police Department report also stated a search of McCloskey’s storage unit revealed items tying him to multiple auto burglaries over the previous month
“As the investigation proceeded, detectives discovered multiple items of value that had previously been reported stolen during local burglaries, as well as additional items which we believe to be stolen, yet perhaps not yet reported to the Casper Police Department,” according to a press release from the department.
“It is important that any members of our community who have been the victim of a recent burglary file a report of the theft as soon as possible, so that we can return these items to their lawful owners,” the press release stated.
McCloskey was booked into the Natrona County Detention Center and charged in Natrona County District Court.
The case was turned over the federal government.
On Nov. 15, the federal grand jury handed up an indictment on the sole count of McCloskey being a felon in possession of a firearm.
