Armed Drug Trafficker Going To Prison

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Alton Dunn, 31, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of possessing with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, was sentenced to serve 72 months in prison by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.

 Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Moynihan, who handled the case, stated that the defendant was arrested on July 31, 2018, after officers from the Rochester Police Department, who were patrolling the area of Child Street in Rochester, saw a Lincoln Navigator with a license plate cover obscuring the vehicle’s license plate. Officers pulled the Navigator to the side of the road, approached the vehicle, and identified Dunn, who had been convicted of Robbery in the Second Degree in 2007, as the driver. Officers also learned he did not have a valid driver’s license. After ordering him to exit the Navigator, officers searched the defendant and found a small plastic vial of marijuana in his pocket. Officers could also smell marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, a loaded semiautomatic handgun, with a defaced serial number, and a bag containing 41 vials of marijuana were recovered. Dunn admitted that he intended to distribute the marijuana.
  
The matter was brought by the United States Attorney’s Office as part of its Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative.  PSN is 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.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division.