Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ERIC WHITE, 31, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally possessing a firearm.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on February 17, 2021, Hartford Police arrested White after a foot chase and they found him in possession of a loaded .45 caliber Taurus handgun.
White’s criminal history includes state felony convictions for assault and narcotics offenses, and he was on special parole with the state when he was arrested in February 2021. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
White has been detained since his arrest. On June 30, 2022, he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Connecticut Violent Crime Task Force and the Hartford Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer R. Laraia and Elena L. Coronado.
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.