Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL STANLEY, 33, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 49 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for possessing a firearm while on supervised release from a prior federal conviction. Judge Chatigny also ordered Stanley to serve six months in a halfway house and three months in home detention when he is released from prison, and banned Stanley from entering New Haven while on supervised release without the permission of the U.S. Probation Office.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Stanley was arrested on September 7, 2021, after New Haven Police conducted a court-authorized search of his New Haven hotel room and seized a fanny pack containing his driver’s license, a small quantity of narcotics and a loaded Ruger SR9, 9mm pistol. Stanley’s DNA was recovered from swabs taken from the gun.
Stanley’s criminal history includes multiple felony convictions, including a federal conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. In October 2014, Stanley was sentenced to 70 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for that offense. He was released from prison in May 2019.
Judge Chatigny sentenced Stanley to 37 months of imprisonment for illegally possessing the firearm, and a consecutive 12 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.
Stanley has been detained since February 14, 2022. On May 27, he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
This investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the New Haven Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony E. Kaplan.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.