Hartford Man Sentenced For Unlawful Possession Of Firearm In Vermont
Thursday, December 19, 2024, 7:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BURLINGTON, VT.- On Monday, a 27-year-old Connecticut man’s honesty with Police Officers paid off when he received under two years in federal prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm due to his ongoing drug use.
On Monday, December 16, 2024, Sharad Collier, 27, of Hartford, Connecticut, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions, III, to 18 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for his previously entered guilty plea to being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm.
According To The U.S. Attorney’s Office
   According to U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest and documents filed with the District Court on February 28, 2023, during an investigation, Collier fled from a residence in Morristown, Vermont, where Police Officers and Detectives were arresting other individuals.
Police Officers were able to track Collier to a nearby shed, where Collier refused to exit. After a two-hour standoff with Police, Collier eventually surrendered.
Police Officers and Detectives obtained and executed a court-authorized search warrant at the residence that Collier fled from. During the search, law enforcement found a Glock .40-caliber handgun inside a bedroom that Collier had previously occupied and fled from before the standoff with Police Officers.
After being taken into custody following the standoff, Collier admitted to the Police that he was an unlawful user of illicit narcotics in February 2023, therefore making him prohibited from possessing a firearm. The investigation into Collier uncovered that he was involved in trafficking crack cocaine and fentanyl in the State of Vermont in February 2023.
U.S. Attorney Kerest commended the investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Morristown Police Department, the Stowe Police Department, the Lamoille Country Sheriff’s Department, and the Vermont State Police.
