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Press Release

Jamaican National Sentenced to Prison for Illegally Reentering the U.S.

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that GARFIELD ANTHONY PATTERSON, 49, a citizen of Jamaica residing in East Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to six months of imprisonment for illegally reentering the United States after being deported.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Patterson was deported from the U.S. to Jamaica in January 1997 and again in April 2000, and he has sustained convictions in Broward County, Florida, in 1997, for grand larceny in the third degree, and, in 1999, for possession of marijuana, possession of a fraudulently issued driver’s license, and obstruction.  Patterson again illegally reentered the U.S. and, in June 2019, was arrested in Middletown, Connecticut, for larceny in the first degree.  He was convicted of that offense and, in March 2021, he was sentenced in state court to 18 months of imprisonment, execution suspended after four months, and three years of probation.

On June 15, 2021, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Patterson with illegally reentering the U.S.  On February 23, 2023, a jury in New Haven found him guilty of the offense.

Patterson, who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on May 15.  He faces deportation when he completes his prison term.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the assistance of the Middletown Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj Patel.

Updated March 28, 2024

Topic
Immigration