Tyquan Armstrong, 44, a four-time prior felon, was a member of what federal prosecutors in Albany described as a large-scale marijuana trafficking organization that shipped pot from Fresno to the Capital Region where Armstrong and other members of the ring sold it.
In June 2022, when investigators searched Armstrong’s home on Curry Road and arrested him, they found 10 pounds of vacuum-sealed marijuana, more than $18,000 in cash, a gold Rolex watch and diamond-encrusted jewelry and two loaded weapons: a .357 caliber revolver under a living room couch and .22 caliber “ghost gun” missing serial numbers and 125 rounds of .357 ammunition in a bedroom safe, prosecutors said.
In September, Armstrong pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell and possession with intent to sell marijuana and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Between July 2021 and July 2022, Armstrong received at least 19 packages of marijuana from Fresno, which he sold in and around Schenectady. His role in the crew included moving at least 50 kilos — 110 pounds — of pot.
“The defendant’s apartment was in a building filled with people, and had he utilized the tools of his trade—in the context of a robbery, for instance—there is a significant likelihood that another tenant who had nothing to do with the defendant and his business dealings would be shot,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cyrus Rieck and Dustin Segovia told Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin in a sentencing recommendation filed in court papers. “Through his conduct, the defendant placed the lives of innocent people at risk, and for that he deserves substantial punishment.”
The prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Armstrong, who has convictions for robbery, assault, and selling drugs, to seven to 7½ years in prison. In turn, Armstrong’s attorney, James Knox, asked Scullin to impose a sentence with the minimal time…
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