Coram Man Found Guilty Of Loaded Gun, Heroin Possession: Suffolk DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A Coram man was found guilty of gun and drug possession charges stemming from a Medford traffic stop in 2021, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said on Tuesday.

Lavon Dawson, 27, of Coram, was convicted on Monday of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (a class C violent felony) and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (a class B felony). He faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced.

"This is just another example of the dangers our law enforcement officers face," Tierney said in a news release. "This was a routine traffic stop that resulted in the discovery of an illegal loaded weapon. "This defendant thought that by throwing out the dangerous drugs in his possession while he fled, and in an open and public space no less, that he would be able to get off scot-free. The jury saw right through his attempt to deceive them and now he will be held responsible for his crimes."

Suffolk police stopped Dawson near Barbara Lane in Medford on Feb. 27, 2021, officials said. Dawson, in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, was asked to step out, prosecutors said. After he got out, officers saw a loaded .380 caliber pistol directly below his seat, authorities said.

Dawson disobeyed orders from the officers trying to arrest him and then ran away, jumping over fences and scrambling through the yards of several homes, investigators said. Officers chased Dawson, eventually apprehending him when they found him hiding in a cellar stairwell of a nearby home, officials said.

The officers, while chasing Dawson, recovered a plastic bag containing more than half an ounce of heroin near his wallet on the ground, prosecutors said. In addition to the loaded pistol, officers also found a digital scale and cutting agent from the vehicle Dawson ran from, the DA said.

Dawson was released from an eight-year prison sentence in July 2020 after he was convicted of first-degree robbery (a class B violent felony) in 2014, the DA's office said.

Dawson is represented by Ian Fitzgerald. His sentencing is scheduled for May 11.