Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Passaic County Man Admits Illegal Firearm Possession
NEWARK, N.J. – A Passaic County, New Jersey, man today admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition after previously having been convicted of a felony, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Harold Mickens, 56, of Paterson, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Dec. 8, 2019, law enforcement officers received a tip that a male wearing a black coat and black sweatpants was standing next to a blue Cadillac Escalade on Ocean Avenue in Jersey City and holding a gun in a green plastic bag. Law enforcement officers responded to the area and identified Mickens as matching the description provided by the tipster. They searched the green plastic bag Mickens was holding and found it to contain a Rossi .357 revolver loaded with six rounds of ammunition. Mickens had previously been convicted in the Superior Court of Hudson County, New Jersey, of possession of a controlled dangerous substance on school property, a felony punishable by more than one year in prison.
The charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for March 16, 2022.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews in Newark, and the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Public Safety Director James Shea, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sophie E. Reiter of the Cybercrime Unit and Sarah A. Sulkowski of the Violent Crimes Unit in Newark.