A New Kensington man was sentenced Thursday to serve up to 14 years in prison for the illegal possession of a firearm, a continuation of what Westmoreland County prosecutors said has been a lifetime of crime.
Alejandro David D’Argan, 28, was convicted last December of two charges — a weapons offense and one lesser count of resisting arrest — in connection with an incident in February 2023. Police said D’Argan, while detained on allegations of passing counterfeit cash, had to be subdued with a Taser. Jurors also found him not guilty of one count of possession of a gun without a license and a forgery charge.
His arrest in New Kensington was just months after he was paroled from a 5-to-20-year prison sentence related to a conviction for the aggravated assault of a man in 2016.
“He has never been crime-free. This is a behavior issue and there is no reason for mitigation here,” said Assistant District Attorney Cassidy Hatten. “He has yet to take any responsibility for his actions.”
According to court records, D’Argan was taken into custody shortly after 10 p.m on Feb. 8, 2023, near the Family Dollar store along Industrial Boulevard, based on reports that he attempted to pass bogus money.
Police said D’Argan was found with nine fake $10 bills, admitted he knew the cash was counterfeit and claimed he received the bogus money from the sale of marijuana.
Authorities said D’Argan had a 9 mm pistol in his jacket pocket at the time of his arrest, a weapon he was not permitted to possess because of a prior criminal conviction.
According to court records, D’Argan has been convicted of four separate crimes dating back to 2016.
“Given the chain of crimes he keeps committing, I have no choice but to sentence him to a standard range sentence,” said Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears.
Assistant Public Defender Michael Garofalo argued for a lesser sentence and said he was confident D’Argan’s conviction will be overturned on appeal.
“I don’t believe they proved it was a firearm. Their expert (at December’s trial) was bogus,” Garofalo said, noting that D’Argan also faces the potential of another 15-year prison sentence for violating his state parole for the assault charge. “This is another 14 years for this violation where no one was harmed.”
