MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Curtis Bell, 56, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson to 40 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Bell pleaded guilty to this charge on May 18, 2026.
On April 8, 2022, a woman reported that her gun had been stolen from the trunk of her car. The gun was returned to the woman approximately one year later. DNA testing of the gun revealed Bell’s DNA on the handgrip and the trigger. At sentencing Bell admitted that he had stolen the gun to pay a drug debt.
Bell is prohibited from legally possessing a firearm because of prior felony convictions; including convictions for false imprisonment, burglary, possession of narcotics, and possessing a firearm as a felon.
At sentencing, Judge Peterson stressed that the goal of sentencing was to protect the community and found that Bell was an acute risk to public safety. Judge Peterson said that Bell’s pattern of sustained harassment of and violence against women, including six convictions since 2020, was an aggravating factor.
The charge against Bell was the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Police Department, Dane County Narcotics Task Force, and the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force, which is comprised of agents from ATF and Task Force Officers from state and local agencies throughout the Western District of Wisconsin. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Pfluger prosecuted this case.
Federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice involving drugs and guns are part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Western District of Wisconsin — U.S. Department of Justice press release.