From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

A Neosho man who is accused of shooting and wounding two Neosho police officers in March 2007 pleaded guilty Thursday to a separate but related federal charge of illegal possession of firearms, according the office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Adam D. Bridgewater, 21, was indicted on the weapons charge after authorities in March 2007 found more than a dozen weapons — including an Ithaca 12-gauge shotgun, a Ruger .22-caliber rifle, two banana-style magazines loaded with .22-caliber ammunition, a loaded Remington 20-gauge shotgun, a Harrington & Richardson .410-gauge shotgun, and Uniden scanners — in his vehicle and a storage shed.

Bridgewater was charged in federal court both because he possessed firearms despite a previous conviction for felony property damage and because some of the firearms were stolen, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

The weapons that triggered the federal charge were found just after Bridgewater was taken into custody on March 16, 2007, following a pursuit and several exchanges of gunfire with local authorities.

In Newton County, Bridgewater is charged with four counts of first-degree assault on law-enforcement officers and four counts of armed criminal action in relation to the incident.

Bridgewater is accused of shooting Sgt. Dan Cook of the Neosho Police Department in the arm when Cook stopped a vehicle Bridgewater was driving March 16 in Neosho. A chase ensued in which Bridgewater allegedly shot Officer Michael Sharp in the face through the windshield of his patrol car. Bridgewater also is accused in Newton County of shooting at Trooper G.H. Hendrix of the Missouri State Highway Patrol at two points as the chase continued south of the city limits.

A jury trial on the Newton County charges has been set for Sept. 24 through 26. The case will be heard in Vernon County on a change of venue.

Bridgewater also faces seven felony counts in McDonald County for allegedly firing at deputies there and ramming one of their vehicles on March 16, 2007. That case remains in McDonald County Associate Court. A hearing has not been set in that case.

Sentence pending

A sentencing date has yet to be set in the federal case. Adam Bridgewater faces up to 20 years in prison without parole and/or a fine of up to $500,000, according to the federal prosecutor’s Springfield office.