Curtis Green, Firearm Possession, Wisconsin 2024

Curtis Green, 39, of Onalaska, Wisconsin, is headed back to federal prison after being sentenced to 69 months for illegally possessing a firearm — a crime made more dangerous by his violent past and the fact he was already under federal supervision. Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson handed down the sentence, citing Green’s repeated disregard for the law and the direct link between the weapon and a 2019 shooting in West Salem.

On October 26, 2019, gunfire shattered the quiet of West Salem. Investigators quickly zeroed in on Green as a suspect. Five days later, on October 31, law enforcement executed a search warrant at his Onalaska residence. Inside, they found a firearm and ammunition matching ballistic evidence from the shooting scene. Though state charges for the shooting are pending, the federal case moved swiftly due to Green’s status as a convicted felon.

Green’s criminal history with guns runs deep. In 2006, he was convicted in the Western District of Wisconsin for stealing 38 firearms from a federally licensed dealer — a crime that already placed him on the federal radar. At the time of the 2019 firearm seizure, he was still serving a term of supervised release for that decades-old theft. Judge Peterson didn’t hesitate to call it what it was: a clear violation with deadly implications.

Judging the case, Peterson revoked Green’s supervised release and tacked on an additional 12 months to his 57-month sentence for firearm possession. The court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Green not only possessed the gun but did so in connection with the West Salem shooting. That detail, the judge emphasized, escalated the threat level and confirmed Green’s danger to public safety.

The investigation was a coordinated push by the West Salem Police Department, the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Their work built a case that left little room for doubt. Green stood before the court not as a first-time offender, but as a repeat player in the violent world of illegal firearms — a man who had been given a second chance and chose to ignore it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor L. Kraus prosecuted the case for the federal government. Following his release, Green will serve two additional years under federal supervision — assuming he complies this time. For now, the message from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Scott C. Blader, is clear: felons with guns, especially those tied to shootings, will face hard time in the Western District of Wisconsin.

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