Uniontown man pleads guilty to gun charges
A Uniontown man pleaded guilty in Fayette County Court Friday to charges that he was armed with an illegal handgun and dozens of rounds of ammunition during an incident in Uniontown in August, and will serve up to four years behind bars.
Demond Wiggan, 18, was charged last year with felony counts of carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, obliteration of weapon identification and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Wiggan pleaded guilty to all charges before Judge Steve P. Leskinen after accepting a plea deal offered by District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. that calls for a prison term of 2 to 4 years.
Charges were filed against Wiggan after Uniontown police officers were called to the area of Whiteman Avenue and Farragut Street shortly before 7 p.m. Aug. 21 for a report of gunshots being fired from a car and a black man wearing a red shirt and black jacket carrying an assault rifle.
An officer spotted a man matching that description and later identified him as Wiggan, and began a lengthy foot pursuit. Wiggan refused to comply with police commands and was able to break free from police on several occasions.
Wiggan was eventually tackled on Grant Street but continued to resist police and attempted to reach into his pants, police said.
After police subdued Wiggan, they found him in possession of a fully loaded 30-round magazine for an AK-47 assault rifle, a 9mm Ruger handgun loaded with 15 rounds and a second 9mm magazine loaded with 17 rounds. Court records indicated the serial number on the gun had been removed.
Officers said they searched the area but were unable to locate an assault rifle.
Wiggan told Leskinen Friday that while he was guilty of the charges filed against him, he did not fire a gun on Aug. 21, but was simply running from the area while armed at the same time police were responding to the shooting. He also told Leskinen that he didn’t intentionally resist arrest but was “just running.”
These charges were lodged against Wiggan just months after he was found not guilty of charges, including robbery and aggravated assault, stemming from an arrest by Uniontown police in 2011.
Wiggan will be sentenced on the latest round of charges at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 29 before Leskinen.