BALTIMORE COUNTY WOMAN SENTENCED FOR
ATTEMPTING TO ILLEGALLY PURCHASE A HANDGUN

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that another gun-related conviction was obtained against an individual as part of Operation Crime Gun, his illegal gun prosecution initiative. Debra An Figueroa, of 13 Jack Pine Place, Baltimore County, pled guilty before the Howard County Circuit Court Judge Diane O. Leasure, to the charge of attempting to Illegally Possess a Regulated Firearm while subject to a protective order. The defendant was given probation before judgment, and placed on 18 months of supervised probation. Furthermore, the defendant was ordered to have no contact with the petitioner in the protective order, and to have no firearms in her possession.

According to the statement of facts, on June 18, 2001, the defendant’s daughter filed for and received a protective order from the District Court for Baltimore County. That protective order commanded the defendant to not abuse or threaten to abuse her daughter. By being subject to a protective order, the defendant was also not legally permitted to possess any regulated firearms under Maryland law. Yet, on September 26, 2001, the defendant applied to purchase a .380, semi-automatic handgun, from a Baltimore County gun shop. She completed an Application to Purchase a Regulated Firearm, and was specifically asked on that form: "Are you a respondent against whom a current non ex parte civil protective order has been entered under Section 4-506 of the Family Law Article?" To this question she falsely answered no, and then certified under the penalty of perjury that her answers were true and correct. She was told on the form that if she answered yes on these question, she could not purchase or possess a regulated firearm. The application was forwarded to the Maryland State Police’s Firearms Registration Section in Columbia, Howard County, as they are responsible for processing all such applications.

This case was investigated by the Cease Fire Unit of the Maryland State Police and was prosecuted by the Office of the Attorney General, Firearms Trafficking Unit, Criminal Investigations Division, in connection with a partnership the two agencies have formed to further efforts to combat handgun violations statewide. Funding for Operation Crime Gun comes from grants received from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the Maryland State Police Cease Fire Council.

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