District Man Sentenced to 17 Months in Prison For Escaping from Halfway House in Southeast Washington

            WASHINGTON – Brandon Dalton, 29, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty to escaping from a halfway house in the District of Columbia, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Robert Turner, United States Marshal for the District of Columbia.

            Dalton pled guilty to the escape charge in September 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced on Dec. 7, 2018, by the Honorable Christopher R. Cooper. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.

            Dalton was among four defendants to be sentenced within the past two weeks as a result of ongoing efforts of the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to arrest violent offenders who escape from halfway houses. The other defendants received sentences ranging from seven to 33 months in prison.

            In 2017, the U.S. Marshals Service requested the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to increase the number of investigations, prosecutions, and dispositions of escape cases from the Hope Village Halfway House in Southeast Washington. The escapees were under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and were afforded an opportunity to complete the final portion of their sentences at halfway houses to assist in their reentry to the community. To date, the effort has led to more than 20 felony convictions of defendants who failed to report or absconded from the Hope Village Halfway House.

            According to court filings, Dalton was released to report to Hope Village to serve the remainder of an 18-month sentence from a 2017 conviction in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for unlawful possession of a firearm. He began serving that sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute in Hazelton, West Virginia. On June 14, 2018, he was furloughed to serve the remainder of his sentence at Hope Village. However, once furloughed, Dalton never reported to Hope Village. According to court documents, Dalton was re-arrested in Prince George’s County, Md., on July 25, 2018, on theft charges.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Marshal Turner commended the work of those who investigated the case. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Aziz of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section.