Richmond Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Illegal Possession of a Loaded Firearm

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OAKLAND, CA—Dontae Jerome Jones wassentenced yesterday to six years in prison for being a felon in possession of afirearm and ammunition, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.
Mr. Jones was convicted on June 20,2012, by a federal jury after a two-day trial. Evidence at trial showed thatafter a traffic stop on July 24, 2011, Jones, 30, possessed the loaded 9mmpistol found under the rear of the front passenger seat in the car he wasdriving. Although Jones admitted the gun belonged to him at the scene, at trialhis attorney argued that he had falsely confessed only to protect the mother ofhis child, who owned the car and was in the car in front passenger seat at thetime of his arrest. However, Jones was captured on recorded calls made after hisarrest trying to cover up his possession of the loaded gun. He asked that“other shells” be removed from his truck before they could be discovered byauthorities. He also asked that an acquaintance sign an affidavit claiming thegun belonged to him and not the defendant. In addition, a low-level amount ofDNA recovered from the gun was consistent with Jones’s DNA. Finally, there wasunchallenged testimony that within a month of his arrest, Jones used asimilar-looking handgun to threaten and physically assault another individual.
The six-year sentence was handed down byU.S. District Court Judge Wilken, who also sentenced the defendant to athree-year period of supervised release. The defendant will begin serving thesentence on November 5, 2012.
Mr. Jones was indicted by a federalgrand jury on September 1, 2011. His arrest resulted from the efforts of a taskforce that operated in the summer of 2011 between the Richmond PoliceDepartment and the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office that sought to curb increasinggun violence in Richmond.
Brian C. Lewis and Michelle J. Kane arethe Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistanceof Janice Pagsanjan, Noble Hughes, and Patty Lau. The prosecution is also theresult of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.