Jason Twiss, Gun and Heroin Possession, NY 2024

Jason Twiss, 28, of Albany, New York, admitted in federal court yesterday to illegally possessing a Ruger .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle and a loaded Glock 9 millimeter handgun — all while trying to buy heroin to sell. Twiss, a convicted felon, has no legal right to own or carry firearms, yet he brought both weapons with him during a narcotics deal attempt in Kingston, federal prosecutors say.

The guilty plea, entered in the Northern District of New York, also covers charges of attempting to possess heroin with intent to distribute and carrying firearms in relation to a drug trafficking crime. According to court records, on December 10, 2014, Twiss drove to Kingston and parked in the Kingston Hospital lot — a cold, calculated staging ground for a drug buy. He carried the loaded Ruger with a 30-round magazine and the Glock to protect the cash he’d brought, prosecutors said.

“He wasn’t just strung out — he was armed and dealing,” said a source familiar with the case. “This wasn’t a user picking up a fix. This was a trafficker with firepower.” Twiss’s decision to brandish military-style weapons during a narcotics transaction underscores the violent potential embedded in street-level drug operations.

U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and ATF Special Agent in Charge Ashan M. Benedict announced the plea, emphasizing that felons with guns and drugs pose a direct threat to public safety. “When firearms and narcotics mix, communities pay the price,” Hartunian said. “Twiss made a series of criminal choices — to traffic, to carry, to endanger.”

Twiss now faces a minimum of 5 years and up to life in federal prison. He could also be fined $750,000 and subjected to a supervised release term of at least 3 years — possibly for life. Sentencing is scheduled for March 13, 2017, before Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy, who will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the severity of the crimes.

The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Kingston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon is prosecuting the case. Federal authorities say they’re cracking down on repeat offenders who arm themselves in pursuit of drug profits — and Twiss’s guilty plea is another notch in that effort.