NH Felon Pleads Guilty To Gun Charge

CONCORD, NH — A New Hampshire man pleaded guilty to a gun charge last week in U.S. District Court, according to a press release. Michael Roman Burghardt, 33, of Manchester, offered the plea on Dec. 8, 2017, on a single count of illegal firearm possession. According to the court, officers in Manchester received a tip that Burghardt was carrying a .38 caliber handgun on a regular basis even though he was a convicted felon – due to prior convictions between 2011 and 2014 – and couldn’t legally possess a firearm.

Burghardt was wanted on a receiving stolen property warrant from November 2016, when officers approached him in January 2017, as he was exiting a chicken joint in the Queen City, according to Manchester Ink Link. After a search, they found him in possession of a gun, police noted at the time. Burghardt was arrested on an armed career criminal charge and violation of 2018 parole.

Burghardt will be sentenced in March.

“Gun violence threatens the safety of our communities,” said acting-U.S. Attorney John Farley in a statement. “One important way to prevent gun violence is to enforce our firearms laws to ensure that criminals do not possess dangerous weapons. This case is one example of how the U.S. Attorney’s Office is working closely with our law enforcement partners to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”

The case, according to Farley, is part of ATF’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, which is a federally-funded program intended to reduce gun violence through law enforcement training, public education, and aggressive law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute gun-related crimes.

According to press reports, Burghardt has been previously charged with second-degree assault, assault, and stalking. Burghardt was the subject of a feature about addiction for NHPR last year in which the story noted that he had been in jail 11 times during the previous 12 years, was addicted to heroin, and taking methadone.

Image via Manchester Police.