By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — A former police officer was found guilty by a jury last week of two felony charges stemming from his theft of a department shotgun.
Andrew Voelkner, 42, was found guilty Thursday of felony firearms possession and felony firearms receiving and concealing; Voelkner had been charged in November 2012 with having stolen a department shotgun earlier in the year. Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said that the theft was discovered in January, and Voelkner was dismissed in February.
The shotgun was discovered in Voelkner’s Farmington Hills home when police there responded to a domestic disturbance call. The weapon had been retired by the department, having previously been issued to Taylor Cpl. Matthew Edwards who was killed in the line of duty in July 2010. Sclabassi said that the weapon was not assigned to Volekner, nor did he have permission to take it away from the department.
Voelkner is scheduled to be sentenced before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten on June 21. Receiving and concealing firearms is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected].)