Armed Drug Dealer Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DAVON THOMAS, 29, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on July 26, 2020, Hartford Police stopped a car Thomas was operating for motor vehicle violations.  A search of the car revealed a loaded 9mm handgun and approximately 18 grams of crack cocaine packaged for distribution.  Thomas was arrested on state charges at that time.

Prior to July 2020, Thomas was convicted in Connecticut and Georgia state courts of robbery offenses.  In December 2020, while he was released on bond in his state case, Thomas was arrested in Massachusetts for possessing with intent to distribute narcotics.  He was subsequently convicted and sentenced for that offense.

Thomas has been detained since his federal arrest on June 9, 2021.  On September 14, 2022, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”). 

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force and the Hartford Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Donovan through the Justice’s Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program.

PSN, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts, is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.