Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Anthony Watkins, 32, of Lackawanna, NY, who was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, was sentenced to 84 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The defendant’s supervised release on a prior federal conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes was revoked and Watkins was sentenced to an additional 12 months in prison, for a total of 96 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wei Xiang, who handled the case, stated that on May 14, 2014, U.S. Probation Officers and members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Safe Streets Task Force visited Watkins’s apartment. Officers found the defendant at home and a Glock 9mm pistol with a high-capacity magazine loaded with 21 rounds of ammunition in his bedroom closet. Watkins was on supervised release after serving 60 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and prohibited from possessing firearms.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Probation Office, under the direction of Anthony SanGiacomo and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen. The task force includes representatives of the Amherst Police Department; the Buffalo Police Department; U.S. Border Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Cheektowaga Police Department; the Erie County Sheriff’s Department; the Hamburg Police Department; the Lancaster Police Department; the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police; the New York State Department of Correctional Services; the New York State Police; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. Additional assistance was provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration; U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the United States Marshal Service, the Lackawanna Police Department, and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department.   

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