Hardwick, Vermont Man Sentenced to 21 Months for Unlawful Firearm Possession After Trading Cocaine for a Gun
BURLINGTON, Vermont — The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont announced that Hunter Patten, 27, of Hardwick, Vermont, was sentenced on October 29, 2026, in federal court in Burlington to 21 months' imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III imposed the sentence.
Patten pleaded guilty on November 3, 2025, to possessing a firearm as a drug user and a person addicted to controlled substances. According to court records, on October 15, 2023, he obtained a firearm in exchange for cocaine base, shortly after hearing that Theodore Bland had committed a double homicide for drugs in Lowell, Vermont.
After his guilty plea, Patten was released from custody on January 27, 2026, to await sentencing in the community, under conditions that included not possessing firearms or drugs and not violating state or federal law. On August 18, 2026, Hardwick Police responding to his residence found him — then just days away from sentencing — with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg, a short-barreled shotgun hidden in a nearby clothes dryer, and thousands of dollars' worth of cocaine base and fentanyl in both his kitchen and bedroom. He was immediately detained for violating his release conditions.
First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the collaborative investigatory efforts of the FBI and the Hardwick Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dana E. Hill and Jason Turner.
The Justice Department said the case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods, its nationwide initiative coordinating federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement to combat violent crime.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Burlington 的联邦大楼、邮局与法院大楼，联邦地区法院所在地。Farragutful 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The federal building, post office and courthouse in Burlington, Vermont, home to the U.S. District Court. Photo by Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
