Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JACQUERIE LABRONZE GIBSON, also known as “Compton,” 44, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 144 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking firearms and crack cocaine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in August 2021, law enforcement received information that Gibson was trafficking firearms that had been purchased by Jacintre Holley, and others on Holley’s behalf, in North Carolina; was distributing narcotics, which he sometimes traded for firearms; and was converting cocaine to crack cocaine at his Wethersfield Avenue apartment in Hartford. On August 12, 2021, investigators executed a court-authorized search warrant at Gibson’s residence and seized a loaded Taurus Model G3 9mm handgun, additional ammunition, a bullet proof vest, approximately 90 grams of crack cocaine, various items used to process and package narcotics, and $860 in cash. Gibson was in the apartment at the time of the search and was arrested.
The investigation revealed that Gibson’s firearm source in North Carolina had sold approximately 15 firearms to Gibson and approximately 50 firearms to another buyer in Connecticut. To date, at least 16 of these trafficked firearms have been recovered from crime scenes in and around Connecticut, including one that was used in homicide in Middletown on May 16, 2021.
Gibson’s criminal history includes felony convictions for drug, burglary, and failure to appear offenses, and a conviction in April 2005 for assault in the first degree stemming from a knife attack of his then girlfriend. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
Gibson has been detained since his arrest. On August 31, 2023, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”), and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
On February 23, 2023, Holley was sentenced in the Eastern District of North Carolina to 127 months of imprisonment.
This investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Middletown Police Department, and the Greenville (N.C.) Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Pierpont, Jr.
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 gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/psn.