Fed Sentence Added In Gun Case Involving Suffield Shipping Container

MANCHESTER, CT — In a case with Suffield ties, a Manchester man has had nearly three years added to his state illegal firearms sentence.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that 36-year-0ld Andrew Francoeur was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant to 33 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for offenses related to the illegal possession, manufacture and sale of firearms.

According to court documents and statements made in court, as part of an ongoing investigation into the "proliferation of privately made firearms" in Connecticut, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators determined that Francoeur was buying firearm parts from a Missouri company, having the parts shipped to him, and manufacturing guns inside a shipping container on a property in Suffield.

Francoeur sold some of the firearms he manufactured, according to case records.

In September 2022, while Francoeur was incarcerated in state custody for drug and firearm offenses, investigators searched the shipping container and found tools for manufacturing guns, gun parts, ammunition, and other firearms-related items, according to case records.

In November 2022, investigators retrieved two storage bins used by Francoeur that contained firearm parts, a .22 caliber rifle, more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition, 25 high-capacity magazines, M-80 explosives, firearm gear, and other items, Avery said.

Francoeur’s criminal history includes felony convictions for firearm, drug, burglary, and failure to appear offenses. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

On April 27 of this year, Francoeur pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, and one count of manufacturing and dealing in firearms without a license.

Judge Bryant ordered that the 33-month federal sentence run consecutively to the state sentence that Francoeur is currently serving.

On July 6, Francoeur was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended after two years, after entering a guilty plea for criminal possession of a firearm.