A 43-year-old career criminal from Taunton who has been convicted and served committed jail or prison time on 18 different occasions since 1990 was convicted at trial last week of illegal firearm charges and sentenced to serve at least a decade in state prison.

Nathaniel Moore was convicted of carrying an illegal firearm by a jury last Friday in Fall River Superior Court after a three-day trial. After the conviction, the defendant then agreed to plead guilty to being an armed career criminal, which would have been proven to the judge during the second stage of the court proceedings.

On November 1, 2013 at around 10:30am, Taunton Police learned the defendant had a firearm and would be traveling in a Jeep Cherokee as a passenger in the area of Weir Street. Within a few minutes, police set up surveillance in a church parking lot on Weir Street. Shortly thereafter, police observed the Jeep traveling southbound with the defendant in the front passenger seat. Police conducted a felony stop of the vehicle. Police ordered all three men inside the vehicle to show their hands.  Both the driver and the rear passenger were cooperative, but the defendant was not.

After police removed the driver and the rear passenger from vehicle, the defendant still refused to show his hands, was moving around in his seat, and making furtive gestures. The defendant then bent forward for about 30 seconds before raising his hands halfway up. Police removed the defendant from the vehicle and found a firearm under the center console on the passenger side of the vehicle. The firearm was a Walther P22 and was loaded with one round in the chamber.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Morrissette. The defendant was sentenced to a 10 to 12-and-a-half-year state prison sentence by Judge Raymond Veary. This will be the longest prison term the defendant has faced in any of his criminal cases.

“I am very pleased with the jury's verdict. This defendant has served numerous jail sentences during the past three decades, and has no business carrying a loaded firearm. He has been a danger to the community for a long time and will now be off the streets for at least 10 years,” District Attorney Quinn said. “This is a well-deserved sentence that will protect the citizens of Taunton from the defendant' s longstanding criminal conduct. I would like to commend ADA Carolyn Morrissette for her efforts in this case.”

--Bristol County District Attorney's Office

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