Watertown man sentenced to prison for federal drug and firearms charges

Dept. of Justice news release

SYRACUSE, NY — Daniel J. Borg, 43, of Watertown, New York, was sentenced today to serve 155 months (12 years and 11 months) in federal prison for his convictions for possession of controlled substances (heroin/fentanyl and eutylone) with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, announced United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman,  John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and Jefferson County District Attorney Kristyna Mills.

As part of his previous guilty plea, Daniel J. Borg admitted that on January 21, 2021 he was in possession of 305 grams of eutylone as well as 30 separate bags of a heroin/fentanyl mixture in an Audi automobile that he parked at a self-storage area in Watertown where he leased a unit.

Detectives from the Metro-Jefferson Drug Task Force (Met-Jeff) surveilled Borg as he was about to enter his locked storage unit. After taking Borg into custody and recovering the drugs from the Audi, Met-Jeff Detectives obtained Borg’s consent to search his locked storage unit. Inside the storage unit Met-Jeff Detectives located a safe containing 500 separate small plastic bags, each holding a small quantity of a heroin/fentanyl mixture. Also recovered from the storage unit was a sawed-off .410-gauge shotgun illegally possessed by Borg, who was previously convicted of five (5) prior felony offenses.

In imposing sentence today, Senior District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. ordered Borg to serve 95 months for his possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and a consecutive sentence of 60 months for his possession of the sawed-off shotgun in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, with concurrent sentences for possession of the firearm as a convicted felon and possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun.

This case was investigated by United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Metro-Jefferson Drug Task Force, consisting of Detectives from the City of Watertown Police Department, Detectives from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Investigators from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, Agents of the United States Border Patrol, and Special Agents from the United States Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick.