Plea Entered In Suffield Shipping Container Ghost Gun Case

MANCHESTER, CT — A Manchester man has entered a plea in a federal ghost gun case.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, and James Ferguson, special agent in charge, ATF Boston Field Division, said Friday that Andrew Francoeur, 36, of Manchester, waived his right to be indicted and entered a guilty plea a day ago in Hartford federal court to 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," also known as "PMFs" or "ghost guns" in Connecticut, ATF 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.

In August 2022, while Francoeur was incarcerated on state drug and firearms charges, investigators retrieved two storage bins used by Francoeur that contained firearm parts, a .22 caliber rifle, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 25 high-capacity magazines, M-80 explosives, firearm "gear," case records show.

Francoeur’s criminal history includes felony convictions for firearm, drug, burglary, and failure to appear offenses, Avery said. 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.

Francoeur pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years, and one count of manufacturing and dealing in firearms without a license, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 6.