Syndicated from the federal docket: Marc T. Woodley, 32, of Plattsburgh, New York, stood in a Syracuse courtroom and admitted to a crime that could land him behind bars for a decade — illegally possessing a firearm while using controlled substances. The guilty plea, entered Wednesday, cuts through the noise of legal maneuvering and confirms what investigators found during a call that started as a burglary report and ended as a federal case.
Woodley called Plattsburgh police on June 22, 2015, claiming someone had broken into his apartment. Officers arrived expecting a standard report. Instead, they walked into a narcotics scene. Inside Woodley’s bedroom, they discovered nearly a pound of marijuana and a loaded Mossberg shotgun tucked beside it. The weapon, legally sold but fatally in the wrong hands, became the centerpiece of a federal charge.
Further digging turned up smoking devices scattered around the apartment and a digital scale — tools of distribution, not casual use. That evidence, combined with the gun, painted Woodley not as a victim of burglary, but as someone deeply entrenched in illegal activity. Because he was an unlawful user of a controlled substance, federal law barred him from possessing any firearm or ammunition. He broke that law the moment he held the shotgun.
The case was a joint operation between the Plattsburgh Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Special Agent in Charge Ashan M. Benedict, alongside Plattsburgh Police Chief Desmond Racicot, oversaw the investigation that linked Woodley to both the drugs and the weapon. U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian’s office announced the plea, underscoring the federal reach of what began as a local call.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Collyer is prosecuting the case, which now heads toward sentencing. On April 6, 2017, Chief U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby will decide Woodley’s fate: up to 10 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and as much as three years of supervised release. No promises, no deals — just the weight of federal sentencing guidelines and the facts laid bare in court.
Woodley’s story is a grim reminder: in the eyes of federal law, guns and drugs don’t mix — and the penalty for ignoring that rule is paid in years, not dollars. This case, rooted in a self-reported burglary, unraveled into a textbook federal firearms violation, prosecuted without mercy and recorded without pity.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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