Larry Mitchell Hopkins facing Federal firearms charge in New Mexico

Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
Published: 22 April 2019 22 April 2019

ALBUQUERQUE - Larry Mitchell Hopkins, who is also known as Johnny Horton, Jr., 69, of Flora Vista, N.M., has been charged in a criminal complaint with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition announced New Mexico U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson and Special Agent in Charge James C. Langenberg of the FBI's Albuquerque Division.

Hopkins was arrested on the morning of April 20, 2019, by the FBI in Sunland Park, N.M., with assistance from the Sunland Park Police Department.  He made his initial appearance on the criminal complaint in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory B. Wormuth this morning.  

According to the criminal complaint, Hopkins unlawfully possessed nine firearms and ammunition in his residence in San Juan County, N.M., in Nov. 2017. The complaint alleges that Hopkins was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he previously had been convicted of at least three felony offenses, including possessing a loaded firearm in the state of Michigan in 1996; being a felon in possession of a firearm in the state of Oregon in 2006; and impersonating a peace officer in the state of Oregon in 2006.

Hopkins remains in custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, both of which are scheduled to be held at 9:30 a.m. on April 29, 2019, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen B. Molzen in the Rio Grande courtroom of the federal courthouse in Albuquerque.

If convicted on the charge in the criminal complaint, Hopkins faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years of imprisonment. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a count of law.

This case was investigated by the Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI with assistance from the Las Cruces Resident Agency of the FBI. The Sunland Park (N.M.) Police Department assisted in the arrest operation. Assistant U.S. Attorney George C. Kraehe is prosecuting the case.

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