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WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County jury on Wednesday acquitted a Hazleton man on a felony firearm offense after Hazleton City Police allegedly found heroin and marijuana inside a residence on East Green Street in September 2020.
Marquis Alberto DeLeon, 27, was found not guilty on a charge of illegally possessing a firearm following a trial before President Judge Michael T. Vough on Wednesday.
The jury deliberated less than 15 minutes before returning the not guilty verdict.
Attorney Theron J. Solomon of Dyller & Solomon, LLC, represented DeLeon.
DeLeon is scheduled for a trial May 15 on charges of possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Court records say Hazleton police assisted agents with the state Department of Probation and Parole when they found a .45-caliber handgun with an altered serial number, a double-barrel shotgun with an altered barrel and a grip that had no serial number, nearly 250 packets of heroin and fentanyl, nearly 140 grams of marijuana and three digital scales inside the East Green Street residence on Sept. 22, 2020.
DeLeon was allegedly inside the residence when it was searched, court records say.
DeLeon remains free on $10,000 unsecured bail.