Gun may land man in prison

COEUR d'ALENE - A 26-year-old Coeur d'Alene man was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury for unlawful possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

The indictment said Cody J. Freer was in possession of a Glock .40-caliber pistol earlier this month, even though he had previously been convicted of a felony drug offense punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding a year.

Court documents show that in August 2009 Freer was convicted in 1st District Court in Kootenai County of possession of a controlled substance.

The government is seeking forfeiture of the firearm.

The charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm is punishable by not more than 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and the North Idaho Violent Crime Task Force.

The task force investigates violent crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping, felonious assaults and drug trafficking.

An indictment is a means of charging a person with criminal activity, and is not evidence.

The person is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.