Crime & Safety

Felon Pleads Guilty to Possessing 19 Firearms

Authorities say the weapons were discovered in a storage locker in East Lyme, along with more than 8,000 other items stolen during a string of burglaries.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut:

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Mark Missino, also known as “Mark Houston” and “Mark Serano,” 46, formerly of Waterford, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport to one count of possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Nov. 13, 2010, Missino and Bernard McAllister possessed 19 firearms that they had stolen during a string of residential burglaries that took place between 2008 and 2010. The firearms were discovered in an East Lyme storage locker with more than 8,000 other items believed to have been taken during the burglaries. 

Prior to Nov. 13, 2010, Missino had been convicted of multiple felony offenses in Connecticut and Florida, including convictions for larceny, burglary, robbery, grand theft and escape. 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.

Missino, who is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill on April 24, 2014, is subject to the Armed Career Criminal Act, a federal law imposing severe penalties for firearm or ammunition possession by persons who have been convicted of at least three violent felonies or serious drug offenses. As an Armed Career Criminal, Missino faces a minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.

McAllister, 43, formerly of Lisbon, pleaded guilty to the same charge on June 6, 2013, and awaits sentencing. 

Missino and McAllister have been detained since Nov. 18, 2010, when they were arrested in Massachusetts. They also have pleaded guilty in state court to several charges related to the series of residential burglaries.       

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Connecticut State Police, the Massachusetts State Police, and the East Lyme, Greenwich, Madison, Guilford, Glastonbury, North Branford and Wallingford Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan S. Freimann and Robert M. Spector.


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