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Press Release

Bismarck Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail for Discharging a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of North Dakota

BISMARCK – U.S. Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on August 28, 2017, Vernon Valentino Pook Jr. was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland to serve 10 years in prison for Discharge of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime. Judge Hovland also sentenced Pook Jr. to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund.

In the early morning hours of June 5, 2016, Pook Jr. fired 14 rounds from a Springfield XD 9mm handgun into an occupied residence on Center Street, Bismarck, ND and vehicles parked outside, for an untimely repayment for an ounce of marihuana.

This case was investigated by the Bismarck Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Special Assistant United States Attorney Dawn Deitz prosecuted the case.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nd/

Updated August 29, 2017