Illegal Alien Sentenced To Prison For Unlawful Possession Of A Firearm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Adolbo Albarran-Flores, 43, of Charlotte, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. to 36 months in prison and two years of supervised release, for unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  

U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas, and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).

According to court documents, evidence submitted during Albarran-Flores’s trial, and today’s sentencing hearing, on or about October 12, 2016, a work crew from the defendant’s company “A+ Rooter” was performing plumbing work afterhours at the Azteca Restaurant, located on Woodlawn Road in Charlotte.  According to trial evidence, a surveillance video from the restaurant showed Albarran-Flores firing a handgun, allegedly, to scare off a person the defendant claimed was trying to break into one of his company’s work vans.  According to court records, when a CMPD officer in a marked car responded to the shots, Albarran-Flores raised his arm towards the officer and pointed a gun.  The officer then fired a shot in the defendant’s direction.  Court records show that Albarran-Flores pretended to be shot before throwing the weapon in a bush beside the restaurant.  Law enforcement later recovered the firearm, a Smith & Wesson, Model M&P 9, 9mm, and eight shell casings consistent with the handgun.  A native and citizen of Mexico, Albarran-Flores was convicted at trial on June 8, 2017.

In imposing the sentence, Judge Conrad found that Albrarran-Flores, knowing a person was a law enforcement officer, assaulted such officer during the course of the offense in a manner that created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury.  

Albarran-Flores is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.  The defendant will also be subject to deportation proceedings upon the completion of his federal sentence.

ICE-HSI led the investigation assisted by CMPD.  Assistant United States Attorney Kenneth Smith, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.