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Project Safe Neighborhoods:

SOUTH CAROLINA MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN NINE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR STEALING AND TRAFFICKING FIREARMS

         Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TEON THOMAS, 23, of Seneca, South Carolina, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 110 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. On February 7, 2008, THOMAS pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of stolen firearms.

         According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, on March 15, 2006, THOMAS, Lucas Bell and others, burglarized a firearms dealer in Taylors, South Carolina, and stole 31 firearms. In order to avoid detection by surveillance cameras, the perpetrators knocked a hole in the wall of the store with a sledgehammer and extracted the firearms, all of which were handguns, with a fishing net. Three of the firearms were either dropped or discarded close to the scene of the burglary. Subsequent investigations have resulted in the recovery of only nine of the handguns, eight in Connecticut and one in New York City.

         On March 29, 2006, the first two of the firearms that had been stolen from the Taylors burglary were recovered by the Middletown Police Department. Information obtained by the Middletown Police department early in the investigation indicated that Bell, also known as “Iraq,” was responsible for selling guns in Middletown. Agents assigned to the Hartford Violent Crime Impact Team subsequently confirmed that THOMAS played an integral role with Bell in the theft, transport and distribution of the firearms that were stolen on March 15, 2006. The investigation revealed that the day after the theft of the firearms dealer, THOMAS and Bell brought the guns to Richard Davison’s residence in Seneca, South Carolina. After an incident at the “Trap,” an area in Seneca known for criminal activity, where one or more of the stolen firearms were used in a shooting incident, THOMAS accompanied Bell, Amie Caron, and others in Caron’s vehicle in a trip to Bristol, Connecticut. The guns were stored in the trunk of Caron’s car. Once in Connecticut, THOMAS and Bell sold the guns in the Middletown area.

         On April 25, 2007, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned an Indictment charging THOMAS, Bell, Davison, Caron and others with various gun trafficking and possession offenses. Each has pleaded guilty and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

         THOMAS has been incarcerated since his arrest in May 2007.

         Acting U.S. Attorney Dannehy noted that this prosecution is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. This program is aimed at reducing gun violence, deterring illegal possession, sale and trafficking of guns, and improving the safety of residents throughout Connecticut. Participants in the initiative include community members and organizations as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

         The case was investigated by the Hartford Violent Crime Impact Team, the Middletown and Bristol Police Departments, and the Greenville County (SC) Sheriff’s Department. The VCIT, which is a joint task force dedicated to combating violent crime and firearms violations, is composed of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Hartford Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brian P. Leaming.

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