Manchester Man Sentenced to 72 Months for Federal Firearms Offense

          CONCORD, N.H.— Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced that Sheldon Grant, 35, previously of Manchester, New Hampshire, was sentenced today to serve 72 months in prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime.

          According to the indictment, statements made in court, and other public records in the case, Grant obtained a firearm as payment for a marijuana debt he was owed in 2015. At the time, Grant was a previously-convicted felon and could not legally purchase or possess any firearms. The firearm previously had been stolen in Nashua, New Hampshire in September 2015. The gun later was recovered from Grant following a domestic incident in Manchester in March 2016.

          Grant, who previously pleaded guilty to the offense, will be on supervised release for five years after he services his prison sentence.

This matter was jointly investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ (FBI) Safe Streets Gang Task Force, and the Manchester Police Department. The case is also part of ATF’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, which is a federally-funded program intended to reduce gun violence through law enforcement training, public education, and aggressive law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute gun-related crimes. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles L. Rombeau.

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