Department of Justice

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Rodney Ogletree, age 38, was sentenced today to serve 78 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon. Ogletree was also sentenced to 24 additional months in prison for violating his conditions of supervised release imposed in a previous federal case.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman, John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Chief Joseph Cecile, Syracuse Police Department.

As part of his guilty plea, Ogletree admitted that on September 16, 2020, he possessed a loaded Glock model 23, .40 caliber pistol with an extended magazine containing sixteen rounds that was recovered during a traffic stop by Syracuse Police of a vehicle Ogletree was driving. Ogletree was prohibited from possessing the firearm due to previous federal felony convictions involving firearms. Ogletree was on federal supervised release when he committed this offense, for a 2014 conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Syracuse Police Department, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Marshals Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamara Thomson as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.