Armed Career Criminal Sentenced To Fifteen Years In Prison

BOSTON – A former Springfield man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.

Luis Colon, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 15 years in prison, and three years of supervised release. In October 2013, Colon was convicted following a four-day jury trial of possessing a firearm and ammunition after being previously convicted of a felony. On Sept. 7, 2010, Colon sold a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol with 14 rounds of Remington 9mm ammunition to a man working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Colon was targeted for federal prosecution because he had more than a dozen prior criminal convictions including crimes of violence and narcotics trafficking. In addition, at the time of this sentence, Colon was under a state criminal justice sentence. These prior convictions qualified Colon as an armed career criminal under federal law.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Interim Hampden County District Attorney James C. Orenstein; Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.