United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NORWALK Conn. -   -   John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Leroy Pressley, 25, of Norwalk, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 57 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally possessing a firearm.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on August 18, 2010, Pressley was arrested by the Norwalk Police Department in the Roodner Court housing complex after he was found in possession of a loaded .38 caliber revolver, approximately 28 grams of crack cocaine and a quantity of heroin.

Pressley was previously convicted of second degree assault in 2004 and sale of narcotics in 2005.  The assault stemmed from an incident in which Pressley shot another individual in the leg.

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.

Pressley, who was on state probation at the time of this offense, has been detained in federal custody since September 9, 2010.  On September 25, 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

While incarcerated in state and federal custody, Pressley has received numerous disciplinary tickets for fighting and committing assaults.  In October 2011, Pressley and another individual violently assaulted another inmate at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility by repeatedly punching and kicking him in the face and the head.  Judge Burns referred to these incidents as aggravating factors when she refused Pressley’s request for a sentence of time served and imposed a term of incarceration at the top of the federal sentencing guidelines range.

This matter was investigated by the Norwalk Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration, pursuant to the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative in Norwalk.