Press Release
New York Felon Found with Loaded Gun at New Haven Train Station Pleads Guilty
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut
John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL LAWRENCE, 26, of Mount Vernon, New York, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today in Hartford federal count to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on August 22, 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security, MTA Police Department, Connecticut State Police, New Haven Police Department and Orange Police Department conducted a criminal interdiction and enforcement operation at Union Station in New Haven. During the course of a random inspection of Lawrence, a DEA special agent found a loaded .38 caliber handgun, and a small quantity of marijuana, in Lawrence’s backpack. The gun was reported stolen in Alabama in July 2018.
In 2015, Lawrence was convicted in New York of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
Lawrence is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea on May 15, 2019, at which time Lawrence faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
Lawrence is currently incarcerated in New York for violating his probation.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Vatti.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone.
Updated February 20, 2019
Topics
Firearms Offenses
Project Safe Neighborhoods
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