Fresno, California - Vincent Deleon, 32, of Bakersfield, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Lawrence J. O’Neil to five years and nine months in prison for possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

On November 6, 2013, the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force received information that Deleon, who was wanted on two Kern County felony warrants, was in an apartment on Monterey Street in Bakersfield. Task force agents set up surveillance and when Deleon came out of the residence, they identified themselves and told him to stop. Deleon immediately fled from the agents and in his flight, threw a Smith & Wesson 9 mm pistol over a fence. Agents arrested Deleon and found the firearm at the adjacent property.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Violent Crime Task Force, which includes Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kern County Probation Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian K. Delaney prosecuted the case.