Benorce Duncan, 32, of Jersey City, spent more than four years behind state bars for robbery and aggravated assault before being released in September 2013, records show.
As a convicted felon, he was prohibited by state and federal law from having a firearm or ammunition.
Duncan was caught with a .22-caliber Röhm RG10 -- the modern-day equivalent of the "Saturday Night Special" -- loaded with six rounds in May 2019, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said.
He accepted a deal from the government rather then go to trial, pleading guilty last July to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon in exchange for a 37-month federal prison sentence.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden sentenced Duncan to three years of supervised release during a videoconference from Newark on Thursday, Honig said.
The case is part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s “signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws,” the U.S. attorney said.
Honig credited special agents and task force officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Newark Division and Jersey City police for the investigation leading to the plea and sentence, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah A. Sulkowski of her Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
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