District Man Sentenced to 36 Months for Possession of Stolen Loaded Firearm

           WASHINGTON – Delonte Bridges, 28, of Northwest, D.C., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for his possession of a stolen loaded firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Bridges pled guilty in July 2019 before the Honorable Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. Judge Jackson sentenced Bridges to 36 months in prison to be followed by 36 months of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on October 21, 2018, at approximately 4:30 p.m., officers of MPD’s Gun Recovery Unit were on patrol in two vehicles in the First Police District. As officers turned south onto the 1100 block of First Place, Northwest, an area known for narcotics and firearms offenses, individuals standing in the street made an announcement that law enforcement was entering the area. In response to the announcement, Bridges initially walked away from law enforcement and then started to run unprovoked. In response, law enforcement officers exited their vehicle, activated their body camera video, and followed in pursuit. Body camera video of responding officers showed that a firearm was visible on the waistband of Bridges after he gave up running from law enforcement and was on the ground. Upon his arrest, officers recovered from Bridges’ waistband a Glock 27 .40 caliber firearm with one round of .40 caliber ammunition in the chamber and five rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in the magazine. MPD officers learned that the firearm was reported stolen during a theft that occurred on July 23, 2018 in the 900 block of Rhode Island Avenue, Northeast.

           In 2011, Bridges was convicted in the D.C. Superior Court of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine at the same location that he was found with the stolen loaded firearm in this case.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham, 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 for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Macchiaroli of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section, who prosecuted the case.