DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL SENTENCED TO 45 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR PERJURY AND PROVIDING FIREARM TO CONVICTED FELON

TRENTON, N.J. – Antoine Dobson, a Deputy U.S. Marshal from Irvington, N.J., was sentenced today to 45 months in prison for giving his off-duty firearm to a friend who was a convicted felon and lying under oath, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Dobson, 30, was convicted July 14, 2009, following a jury trial of one count of disposing his firearm and ammunition to a convicted felon and one count of perjury. In convicting Dobson, the jury found that he knowingly disposed of a firearm and ammunition to Larry Langforddavis, 35, of Hillside, N.J., a convicted felon. The jury also found that Dobson knowingly made a false statement when he testified before a federal grand jury investigating the offense. United States District Judge Peter G. Sheridan presided over the trial and imposed today’s sentence in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

Dobson, who served as a Deputy U.S. Marshal with the U.S. Marshals Service in the Southern District of New York, and Langforddavis were friends who spent time together socially. On January 5, 2008, Dobson and Langforddavis were out together at Jersey Girls, a strip club in Elizabeth, N.J., when Dobson was allegedly attacked in the parking lot and brought to Trinitas Hospital for treatment. Elizabeth police officers came to the hospital to question Dobson and other witnesses concerning the events. Langforddavis, in the presence of Dobson, identified himself to two of the officers as a law enforcement officer, showing them a black semi-automatic firearm that he was wearing in a black ankle holster on his left leg.

When questioned later that day by a third officer outside the hospital, Langforddavis denied that he ever identified himself as a law enforcement officer. The three Elizabeth police officers then went to confront him, and Langforddavis fled the scene in an SUV with a flat tire. When the officers questioned Dobson about Langforddavis’ identity, Dobson falsely claimed that he did not know Langforddavis’ name or address.

On January 19, 2008, Elizabeth police officers responded to Jersey Girls on an unrelated matter, where an officer identified Langforddavis walking in the parking lot of the club. Langforddavis was found to be carrying a black semi-automatic firearm in a black ankle holster, which was fully loaded with hollow point bullets.

The investigation revealed that the firearm possessed by Langforddavis was purchased by

Dobson as his off-duty firearm. On October 8, 2008, Dobson elected to testify before a federal grand jury in Newark that was investigating the circumstances surrounding Langforddavis’ possession of Dobsons’ firearm. During his testimony, Dobson falsely testified that he did not know that Langforddavis had a gun in his possession on January 5, 2008, and that he did not recall seeing Langforddavis at the hospital.

Langforddavis was convicted of possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon on December 10, 2009, in a separate jury trial. In sentencing Langforddavis, Judge Sheridan took into consideration that he had used a firearm in the commission of some of his prior criminal offenses before being arrested with Dobson’s firearm. Langforddavis was sentenced to 115 months in prison on July 21, 2010.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Dobson to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, N.Y. Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James. E. Tomlinson; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark; the U.S. Marshals Service for the Southern District of New York, under the direction of Marshal Joseph R. Guccione; and the U.S. Marshals Service for the District of New Jersey, under the direction of Acting Marshal Donald Rackley, with the investigation of this case. Fishman also credited the Elizabeth and Fanwood, New Jersey Police Departments for their work and invaluable assistance with the investigation and prosecution.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zahid N. Quraishi of the United States Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Chester Keller, Esq., First Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark, N.J.