CORAM MAN CONVICTED FOR POSSESSING A LOADED HANDGUN AND HEROIN DURING TRAFFIC STOP

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced today that a jury found Lavon Dawson, 27, of Coram, guilty after trial on gun and drug charges that stemmed from a traffic stop in Medford in 2021.

“This is just another example of the dangers our law enforcement officers face. This was a routine traffic stop that resulted in the discovery of an illegal loaded weapon,” said District Attorney Tierney. “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.”

Dawson was found guilty on March 27, 2023, of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class C violent felony and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a Class B felony.

The evidence at trial established that on February 27, 2021, members of the Suffolk County Police Department conducted a routine traffic stop in the vicinity of Barbara Lane in Medford. During the traffic stop the officers asked Dawson, who was seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, to step out of the vehicle. After Dawson exited the vehicle, the officers observed a loaded .380 caliber pistol directly below his seat.

When officers attempted to arrest Dawson, the defendant disobeyed orders from the police and fled on foot over fences and through the yards of numerous residences. The officers pursued the defendant on foot, eventually apprehending him after they found him hiding in a cellar stairwell of a nearby residence.

Along Dawson’s path of flight, officers recovered a plastic bag containing over half an ounce of heroin near his wallet on the ground. In addition to the loaded pistol, officers also recovered a digital scale and cutting agent from the vehicle the defendant fled from.

Dawson was previously convicted in 2014 in Suffolk County of Robbery in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released in July 2020.

The trial was heard before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Richard Ambro. Dawson is represented by Ian Fitzgerald, Esq. He is due back in court for sentencing on May 11, 2023.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Donald Barclay and Acting Deputy Bureau Chief Jessica Spencer of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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