Hartford Man Gets A Dozen Years In Federal Gun Trafficking Case

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford man who trafficked guns and crack — including a weapon with ties to a Connecticut homicide three years ago — has been sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison, federal authorities said.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that 44-year-old Hartford resident Jacquerie Labrinze Gibson, also known as "Compton," was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 144 months on prison, 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 officials received information that Gibson was trafficking firearms that had been purchased by Jacintre Holley, and others, on Holley’s behalf, in North Carolina. Investigators also determined that Gibson was distributing narcotics, which he sometimes traded for firearms, and was converting cocaine to crack cocaine at his Wethersfield Avenue apartment in Hartford.

On Aug. 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 Aug. 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.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Middletown Police Department, and the Greenville (N.C.) Police Department.