U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
District of Maine

District of Maine

www.justice.gov/usao/me

For Immediate Release

January 17, 2013

Portland Man Sentenced on Federal Firearm Charge

Portland, Maine — United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Jason Lee Morrill, age 32, of Portland, was sentenced yesterday by U. S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby, sitting in Portland, to 21 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Morrill pled guilty to the charge on September 18, 2012.

According to court records, on May 2, 2012, Morrill, a convicted felon since 2003, purchased a Taurus 9mm pistol and two magazines during a private sale with a stranger he met through Uncle Henry’s online classified system. Moments later, while still in the parking lot where the sale occurred, Morrill sold the firearm to an acquaintance with connections to New York for $100.

On June 13, 2012, the New York City Joint Firearms Task Force reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) Field Office in Portland, that the pistol Morrill purchased and then sold in Maine was recovered in the Bronx borough of New York City near the scene of a shooting involving officers of the New York City Police Department. At the time, no suspect had been identified as possessing the handgun.

United States Attorney Delahanty said that the Morrill case is another example of the important work of ATF and Maine’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) anti–gun violence initiative focused on firearms trafficking and illegal gun possession. For more information about PSN’s Gun Seller Awareness Campaign or to order a free Gun Seller’s Safety Kit, please call (207) 771–3294 (southern Maine), (207) 262–4694 (northern Maine), or email usame.psn@usdoj.gov.

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