Waterbury Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Federal Prison for Gun Offense, Violating Supervised Release

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ALEXANDER CALDERON, 28, last residing in Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 72 months of imprisonment for illegally possessing a firearm, and for violating his conditions of supervised release that followed a prior federal conviction for trafficking narcotics.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in April 2019, Calderon was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 46 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for a gang-related drug trafficking offense.  He was released from prison in December 2021, and began serving his term of supervised release.

Shortly after midnight on March 21, 2022, four victims were wounded in a shooting incident outside of a bar on Scovill street in Waterbury.  A Waterbury Police detective who was in the vicinity at the time of the shooting saw Calderon discard a silver handgun under a vehicle.  Calderon was apprehended and officers recovered the discarded firearm, a Walther PPK .380 handgun.  Officers subsequently recovered several spent shell casings from the scene, including a .380 casing that was connected to the handgun Calderon discarded.

Calderon has been detained since his arrest on March 21, 2022.  On January 5, 2024, he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Judge Meyer sentenced Calderon to 64 months of imprisonment for the firearm offense, and a consecutive eight months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

This matter was investigated by the Waterbury Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).  The case was being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha M. Freismuth.

The prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.