Convicted Felon Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Illegal Gun Possession

DAYTON – Christopher Watson, 29, of Dayton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 42 months in prison followed by three years of court supervision for illegally possessing a firearm.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Todd Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Jonathan McPherson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck and agencies participating in the FBI Safe Streets Task Force announced the sentence handed down Wednesday, April 24 by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose.

According to the Statement of Facts in this case, task force officers searched a house in west Dayton in March 2018 and found a loaded 9mm handgun holding 16 rounds of ammunition in a bedroom. Investigators determined that the gun belonged to Watson. Because Watson had been convicted of felony drug possession in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in May 2011, he was prohibited from having a firearm or ammunition. Watson pleaded guilty in January 2019 to illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by the Safe Streets Task Force, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Hunt, who represented the United States in this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Justice Department reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.