EUGENE, Ore.—A Eugene man on supervised release for a drug trafficking conviction was again sentenced to federal prison today after threatening to shoot at an apartment and then driving to the apartment with a loaded assault rifle.
Billy Lynn Brosowske, 48, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release.
According to court documents, on February 11, 2020, Brosowske sent a series of threatening messages to a person he knew. Brosowske threatened to shoot at the person’s apartment if Brosowske’s ex-girlfriend was found to be inside. In one message, Brosowske admitted to knowing there were young children in the apartment who could be placed in “harms (sic) way.”
Officers from the Eugene Police Department responded immediately and located Brosowske’s truck near the apartment. Officers searched the truck pursuant to a state search warrant and located a loaded assault rifle with a chambered round and its safety turned off. Law enforcement arrested Brosowske two weeks later in The Dalles, Oregon, and he was taken into federal custody for violating his federal supervised release after a previous drug trafficking conviction.
On August 20, 2020, a federal grand jury in Eugene returned an indictment charging Brosowske with illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. On November 10, 2021, he pleaded guilty to the single charge.
U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug of the District of Oregon made the announcement.
This case was jointly investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Eugene Police Department. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey Sweet and Will McLaren, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon, in close coordination with Erik Hasselman, Senior Prosecutor for the Lane County District Attorney’s Office, who is prosecuting Brosowske for state crimes arising from this incident.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.