CAMDEN, N.J. - A Camden man was sentenced today to 80 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Anthony Thomas, 27, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb to an indictment charging him with one count of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Judge Bumb imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Thomas, a previously convicted felon, was arrested Aug. 13, 2017, by the Camden County Police Department after officers observed him displaying a handgun to a second man. Shortly before, Thomas had retrieved the handgun from underneath the front passenger seat of a vehicle that two young children had been entering and exiting as they played nearby. After displaying the handgun to the second man, Thomas, the second man and both children entered the vehicle. Police approached and directed Thomas and others to exit the vehicle. Thomas fled on foot and was apprehended a short time later. A search of the vehicle revealed a loaded, Glock Model 17, 9mm handgun beneath the seat where Thomas had been sitting.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb sentenced Thomas to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the ATF Camden Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John Devito, and the Camden County Police Department, under the direction of Chief J. Scott Thomson, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Vidoni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
Defense counsel: Thomas J. Young Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Camden
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
