Bridgeport Man Sentenced Who Illegally Trafficked Guns: U.S. Attorney

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 24-year-old Bridgeport man was sentenced this week to 40 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for firearm trafficking and possession offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Brannon Winston was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford. Last September, Winston, who has been detained since his arrest in January 2023, pleaded guilty to one count of crossing state lines with the intent to engage in unlicensed dealing of firearms, and one count of receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment.

According to court documents and statements, Winston purchased firearms in Georgia, where he resided at times, and provided them to customers in Connecticut. He was accused of personally purchasing at least 18 firearms in Georgia, and had others purchase additional firearms on his behalf. Investigators, who recovered guns after shooting incidents in Bridgeport, discovered that some of the firearms associated with Winston were provided to members of the East End and PT Barnum gangs in Bridgeport.

In March 2022, a federal grand jury in Bridgeport indicted Winston on firearms trafficking offenses, and during his arraignment, he was informed that he could be required to serve a consecutive term of imprisonment of up to 10 years if he committed a federal felony while on pretrial release. At the time, Winston was released on a $100,000 bond.

Winston was arrested in December 2022 by Bridgeport Police for possessing a .357 caliber handgun with a loaded high capacity magazine. The handgun had been purchased in Jonesboro, Georgia, in November 2022, and ballistics analysis revealed that it had been used in a shooting in Bridgeport’s East Side the day before Winston's arrest.

This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Bridgeport Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.