ALBUQUERQUE – Nathan Jensen, 34, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Jensen was arrested in May 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to the complaint, Jensen allegedly committed the offense while on supervised release from a prior federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Court records reflect that the court issued a warrant for Jensen’s arrest on May 4, 2016, based on a petition filed by the U.S. Probation Office to revoke his supervised release. The petition alleges that Jensen had been released from the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on April 25, 2016, after completing an 84-month prison sentence, with directions to report to his probation officer and a half-way house at which he was to reside for up to six-months. Jensen allegedly failed to report either to his probation officer or to the halfway house. The U.S. Marshals Service’s Southwest Investigative Fugitive Team (USMS-SWIFT) arrested Jensen on the warrant on May 16, 2016.
Jensen was subsequently indicted on June 14, 2016, and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to the indictment, Jensen was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he previously had been convicted of several felony offenses in the state courts of New Mexico in addition to his federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
During today’s proceedings, Jensen pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on May 16, 2016, members of USMS-SWIFT arrested him for violating the conditions of his supervised release. Incident to his arrest, USMS-SWIFT seized a firearm and ammunition from Jensen which he was not permitted to possess because of his status as a convicted felon. At sentencing, Jensen faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of ATF and the USMS-SWIFT. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Wishard is prosecuting the case under a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders primarily based on their prior criminal convictions for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible. Because New Mexico’s violent crime rate, on a per capita basis, is one of the highest in the nation, New Mexico’s law enforcement community is collaborating to target repeat offenders from counties with the highest violent crime rates, including Bernalillo County, N.M., under this initiative.