By Isabelle Brady
MODESTO, CA – Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Linda McFadden accepted a jury’s guilty verdict Wednesday here in the Joshua Gonsalves trial involving felony firearm possession charges and fraud, among other charges.
The bailiff read the jury’s findings, beginning with a guilty verdict for felony possession of a firearm—in violation of a statute that restricts individuals addicted to narcotics, with felony convictions or with active felony arrest warrants from purchasing, owning, or possessing a firearm.
The jury found that Gonsalves possessed a shotgun, and also found him guilty of possessing ammunition as a person prohibited from possessing ammunition.
Beyond his firearm charges, the jury found Gonsalves guilty on the following charges: using identifying information to commit fraud, more commonly known as identity theft; possessing counterfeit dye, apparatus or paper used to manufacture counterfeit coins or bills; and, finally, committing fraud with a money order or check.
The jury found that Gonsalves’ operation indicated “planning, sophistication or professionalism” and that the external value of the property in question exceeded $950.
Earlier, Gonsalves, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor involving alcohol stolen from a liquor store on April 22.
After the bailiff finished reading the verdict, Judge McFadden set a probation report to be heard June 8.
