Hartford Man Sentenced For Gun Crime

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford man has been sentenced to five years in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to a statement from Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Christopher Ponder, 32, will also serve five years of supervised release.

According to prosecutors, police learned in June 2020 that crack cocaine was being dealt out of an apartment on Laurel Street in Hartford. In the summer and fall of 2020, investigators made multiple controlled purchases of crack at the apartment.

Ponder was arrested on Nov. 4, 2020, after investigators conducted a court-authorized search of the apartment and seized two loaded .380 handguns, a quantity of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Ponder, who was at the apartment at the time of the search, also had a quantity of crack on his person.

Ponder has been detained since his arrest. He pleaded guilty in April to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

Ponder’s criminal history includes state felony robbery convictions.