July 17, 2010
Deer hunt leads to arrest of felon
BURLINGTON – Successful deer hunting led to a criminal charge for a man who was not allowed to have guns because of a 22-year-old felony conviction.
State law prohibits felons from ever possessing a firearm. Norman L. Gould Jr., 50, 280 W. Chestnut St., Burlington, has a 1988 conviction for felony child abuse, and has been hunting regularly since that time. His name came up during a Department of Natural Resources effort to weed out felons from the ranks of the state’s hunters.
On March 27, investigators from the Racine County Sheriff’s Department and DNR came to Gould’s house and asked about his hunting. Court records state he showed them venison he had in his freezer and said he had been deer hunting with a firearm since 1982 or 1983.
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He appeared Wednesday in Racine County Circuit Court on one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, which carries the potential for five years in prison. Gould is out of custody on a $2,000 signature bond. He is due in court Aug. 4 for an initial hearing on the charges.