Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Chris Lee, 30, has been sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing a gun and selling illegal narcotics. The defendant was caught carrying a firearm and was observed during a long-term investigation selling both guns and drugs between August 2019 and January 2020.

District Attorney Katz said, “There is likely no deadlier combination – illegal guns and drugs – that puts our neighbors and children at grave risk. This defendant pleaded guilty and has now been sentenced by the Court. Every single illegal firearm in the borough of Queens is a potential tragedy. My Office will continue to do everything possible stop the bloodshed and the poison of drugs from circulating within our communities.”

Lee, of Sanford Avenue in Flushing, Queens, pleaded guilty in May to two-counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice John Zoll today sentenced Lee to nine years in prison, to be followed by three years’ post release supervision.

According to the charges, the defendant was the target of a long-term investigation into both drug dealing and gun trafficking within Queens County. Between August 2019 and January 2020, the defendant sold three firearms to a buyer who was an undercover detective. Lee exchanged a defaced .38 revolver, a 380 semiautomatic pistol with a laser aiming device and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol for cash. He also sold more than 100 rounds of ammunition.

During that same time period, according to the charges, the defendant also sold cocaine and methamphetamine to a buyer, who was also an undercover law enforcement officer.

Assistant District Attorney Kathryn O’Neill, of the District Attorney’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau, prosecuted the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Mary Lowenburg, Bureau Chief, Catherine Kane and Jonathan Scharf, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Hana Kim, Unit Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard A. Brave.