Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 25-year-old Gerald Hunt of Niagara Falls was sentenced by Acting Erie County Court Judge James A. W. McLeod to 7 years in prison followed by 5 years post-release supervision.

On November 20, 2016 at approximately 4:30 a.m., Hunt was the passenger in a vehicle driven by co-defendant 27-year-old Jonathon Beaudin of Niagara Falls. As Beaudin attempted to make a U-turn on the Peace Bridge, he was advised to proceed through U.S. Customs. When the defendants pulled up to the booth, the Customs and Border Protection officer found that the defendants did not have identification and directed the vehicle for further inspection. CBP officers uncovered two loaded firearms along with a mask and ammunition in a bag in the trunk of the vehicle.

DNA analysis was conducted on both the pistol and the revolver found in the bag. The DNA profile on the revolver matched Gerald Hunt.

In February 2018, a jury found Hunt, a second-time felony offender, guilty of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree.

Beaudin pleaded guilty to Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree on December 20, 2017. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, May 18 before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio.

Assistant District Attorneys Danielle E. Phillips and Brian D. Langenfeld of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau prosecuted the case.