Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Rockford Resident Sentenced to More Than 19 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing a Gun as a Convicted Felon
ROCKFORD — A Rockford resident was sentenced today in federal court on a federal gun charge. The defendant, MARTEZ DICKSON, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard to a total of 235 months in federal prison, and ordered to serve 5 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment. On Sept. 15, 2015, following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard, Dickson was found guilty by a federal jury of illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
According to the indictment and evidence at trial, on May 31, 2014, Rockford Police Officers were called to the McDonald’s on 11th Street after Dickson was discovered asleep in the driver’s seat of a car parked in the drive-thru lane. When officers arrived on the scene, Dickson was found in possession of a loaded 9 mm handgun, after previously having been convicted of a felony.
Dickson was originally charged in state court and was transferred to federal court where he was charged under tough federal firearms laws as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an intensive, cooperative effort between local, state, and federal law enforcement to attack gun crimes. The cornerstone of the program is that every defendant committing an offense involving a gun will be reviewed for possible federal prosecution in order to obtain the harshest penalties for the worst offenders.
The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jeffery Magee, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; Joseph Bruscato, Winnebago County State’s Attorney; and Patrick Hoey, Interim Chief of the Rockford Police Department. The government was represented by Assistants U.S. Attorney Talia Bucci and Margaret J. Schneider.
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