Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANTHONY PATTERSON, 35, of Bridgeport, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally possessing a firearm.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 13, 2012, a Connecticut State Police trooper stopped a rental car being driven by PATTERSON on I-95 South.  When the trooper approached the vehicle, PATTERSON informed him that he was on parole for conspiracy to commit murder and that he was driving without a license.  The trooper instructed PATTERSON to exit the vehicle, searched him and recovered a loaded .380 caliber handgun from PATTERSON’s waistband.

PATTERSON has been detained in state custody since his arrest.  On March 19, 2014, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

This is PATTERSON’s fifth felony conviction, including a conviction for conspiracy to commit murder.  In November 2001, a 32-year-old man was shot seven times and killed by PATTERSON’s accomplices at the Roodner Court housing complex in Norwalk after PATTERSON had lured the victim out of an apartment.

This matter was investigated by the Connecticut State Police, Norwalk Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Richards.

###