Newark -- Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that Michael Ford, 28, of Orange was sentenced to eight years in New Jersey State Prison today by the Honorable Richard T. Sules, Judge of the Superior Court.
Ford was sentenced to eight years for unlawful possession of a weapon. He was also sentenced to 4 years for possession of cocaine and 18 months for resisting arrest.
The sentences will run concurrently. He must serve four years in New Jersey State Prison before he is eligible for parole.
According to Assistant Prosecutor Casey B. Breslow, who tried the case, on April 29, Orange Police were alerted that Ford was in possession of a handgun in the vicinity of Hickory and Taylor Streets.
When they responded to the location, the officers attempted to stop Ford but he ran through several backyards and tossed a semi-automatic handgun over a fence in the 100 block of Chapman Street.
When he was apprehended, Ford was in possession of 20 Ziploc backs of crack cocaine and a .380 caliber Smith and Wesson.
On Oct. 27, an Essex County jury found him guilty of 2nd degree unlawful possession of a weapon, 3rd degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance and 4th degree resisting arrest by flight.
As an adult, Ford has been arrested eight times. This is his second felony conviction as an adult.
Assistant Prosecutor Breslow said, “This case was successfully prosecuted because of the hard work of Detectives Greenfield, Mooney, Stefanelli, and Johnson.’’