Prior felon pleads guilty to gun charge

BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Baron Hall, 48, of Cheektowaga, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. to being a felon in possession of a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. 

On June 24, 2026, the FBI executed a search warrant at Hall’s Tudor Road residence, during which they seized a semi-automatic handgun and six rounds of ammunition. Hall was previously convicted of felony crimes in federal court in March 2004, and in Niagara County Court in October 1999 and is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. 

This investigation was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Buffalo comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, ATF, IRS Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Emergency Removal Operations, Customs and Border Protection, the DEA, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Diplomatic Security Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch. The plea is the culmination of an investigation by the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Allen D. Davis, II.

Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

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