HOLLIDAYSBURG — A city man accused of owning multiple firearms despite a prior felony conviction was found guilty by a Blair County jury on Tuesday.

Todd Wesley Pensyl, 54, was convicted on all 14 felony counts of possession of a firearm prohibited following jury deliberation that lasted about 15 minutes. He was immediately remanded to the Blair County Prison to await sentencing.

No further testimony was given in the trial as both Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Thomas and defense attorney Mark Zearfaus agreed that the chain of custody in regards to the 14 firearms was maintained once they were recovered from Pensyl’s residence and they were securely transported and entered into evidence at the state police Greensburg lab.

Senior Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh of Venango County, who presided over the trial, told the jury that while statements made by attorneys are usually not meant to be considered fact, their agreement would be the exception to that rule.

In his closing arguments, Zearfaus described the case as “pretty straightforward.” He said the firearms were old family guns, the signs found on Pensyl’s front gate and back door as “typical American things.”

“What we have here is a typical American home,” Zearfaus said.

He told the jury that Pensyl “obviously enjoyed” firearms and, while he had a conviction from 1994 for a small amount of marijuana, he still had his Second Amendment rights.

“I would submit that this is infringing upon his constitutional rights,” Zearfaus said in asking for not guilty verdicts. “We stand on the U.S. Constitution, me and Mr. Pensyl, and we hope you do, too.”

Thomas rebutted this, saying that the right to bear arms is not absolute in Pennsylvania for safety reasons and Pensyl lost that right by pleading guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver. He also argued that Zearfaus “scooted over certain things” in an attempt to “downplay and minimize” the situation.

Thomas reminded the jury that law enforcement found the firearms in Pensyl’s home because they were in the process of executing a search warrant as part of an ongoing drug investigation. They then had to pause the execution of that search warrant to apply for a second search warrant to seize the firearms.

“This did not happen in a vacuum,” Thomas said.

Prior to sending the jury to deliberate, Senior Judge Lobaugh instructed them to remember that the mere fact of police presence in executing the initial search warrant was not evidence of a crime or criminal conduct.

Pensyl and his family gave no reaction while the verdicts were read.

Senior Judge Lobaugh ordered sentencing in the case to be scheduled within 90 days and for a pre-sentence investigation to be completed prior to sentencing. He also ordered Thomas and Zearfaus to submit pre-sentence narratives.

Outside court, Thomas said the remaining charges against Pensyl in the case were severed from the 14 felony firearm charges. Action in relation to those charges, and the two other cases against Pensyl, were halted pending the outcome of the firearms trial.

The remaining charges in the case are three felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and three misdemeanor counts each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Thomas said the intent of the district attorney’s office is to have these charges joined with the two remaining cases against Pensyl, to all be tried at once.

In the first of Pensyl’s remaining cases, he is facing two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and single misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, while in the second he is facing single felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver, along with a single misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.

The cases against Pensyl stem from an attempted traffic stop on a white Mercedes with tinted windows and an expired registration on July 29, 2024, in the area of 32nd Street.

Altoona Patrolman Noah Bollman said during a preliminary hearing in August 2024 that he was in an unmarked police vehicle with another Altoona officer when the Mercedes sped off at a “high speed.”

Officers later found the Mercedes’ driver, Joshua Shepard, at a residence along Old Route 22 in Frankstown and upon questioning, Shepard told officers that he had fled the traffic stop due to outstanding warrants for his arrest and admitted to having drugs. He said he had been at Pensyl’s house to purchase an “eightball” of meth or cocaine prior to the chase.

Lt. Christopher Mosser was surveilling Pensyl’s residence after receiving a tip from a neighbor about suspected drug activity.

Upon executing a search warrant on Pensyl’s residence, officers saw a large number of guns on the walls of the living room.

Officers were also able to locate 404 grams of methamphetamine, 14 grams of cocaine, 14 grams of heroin/fentanyl and nine stamp bags of heroin, as well as a substantial number of stamp bags and digital scales.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.