Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Jr., announced that Fletcher Lee Salazar, 31, of Muskegon, was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Janet T. Neff. In April, Salazar pled guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. As part of a plea agreement, the United States dismissed allegations that Salazar illegally possessed a firearm, which stemmed from an incident in November 2014 during which Salazar fled from a vehicle, leaving behind a semiautomatic pistol with an obliterated serial number and an extended magazine. Salazar was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which requires a sentence of at least 15 years because he had previously been convicted three times of a serious drug offense. Salazar’s criminal history includes three convictions under Michigan law for distribution of cocaine.

“Armed felons with a serious history of drug dealing present an immediate danger to their communities, and the penalties of the Armed Career Criminal Act ought to deter other felons from making the same decisions this defendant made,” U.S. Attorney Miles said.

“Today’s significant sentence should send a clear message to armed career criminals, you will do hard time in prison for violating Federal gun laws,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) Special Agent in Charge, S. Robin Shoemaker. “This case also highlights ATF’s efforts to protect our community from violent offenders and our partnership with the Western District of Michigan’s United States Attorney’s Office, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Muskegon Parole Office, the Muskegon Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin M. Presant prosecuted the case.

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