Fridley Felon Faces Gun Charge in Federal Court

A Fridley man with a long criminal history could face a long prison sentence after he was indicted Friday on a gun charge in federal rather than state court. 

Roger Bruce Bugh, a felon, was living in Fridley on Jan. 20 when he sold a .357-caliber revolver at an apartment complex on St. Paul's East Side, according to the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. It is illegal for felons to possess firearms.

If convicted, Bugh faces a mandatory 15-years in federal prison without parole because he has at least three previous convictions for serious crimes of violence, said Jeanne Cooney, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office. Bugh has 10 previous felony convictions in Minnesota and Wisconsin, she said, including for bank robbery, theft, burglary and assault.

"The lion's share" of such prosecutions occur in state court, according to Cooney, but local officials and federal prosecutors try to steer "career criminals" to federal court, where sentences are longer.

"Nobody's going to see anything like [a 15-year sentence] in state court," she said.

The effort is most intense in Hennepin County, which has seen a spike in gun crime, Cooney said. Anoka County also sends cases like Bugh's to federal prosecutors, said Paul Young, division chief for violent crime at the Anoka County Attorney's office. "We absolutely try," said Young, although the U.S. Attorney doesn't take every case.

Bugh's arrest in what prosecutors call an "arranged controlled purchase" was part of an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and St. Paul police.

Bugh's attorney at the Minnesota Federal Public Defender's office was not immediately available for comment.