BOSTON, Aug. 8, 2014—A Dorchester man was arraigned yesterday on firearm charges after a Boston Police criminalist discovered his fingerprints on a loaded gun recovered from behind a Roxbury home, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DAQUAN CHADWICK (D.O.B. 3/2/89) of Dorchester was arraigned in Roxbury Municipal Court yesterday on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possessing a firearm with a defaced serial number, carrying a loaded firearm, and possession of a large capacity firearm.  Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Fitzgerald requested that Chadwick be held on $15,000 bail and that he be ordered wear a GPS monitor, stay away from the area of his arrest, and stay away and have no contact with potential witnesses in the event he is released on bail.  Judge Pamela Dashiell imposed $7,500 bail and granted the requested conditions of release.

Fitzgerald told the court that on June 8, Boston Police officers on patrol in the area of Cheney Street observed Chadwick, whom they knew from prior interactions, standing alone in the area of Cheney and Montana streets.  When officers drove around the block again, Cheney and three other men – two of whom the officers recognized as having been involved with gun-related offenses – were standing on the other side of the street.

When police exited their cruiser and attempted to speak with the men, prosecutors said, the group ignored officers and continued their conversation.  As the officers looked over the area and approached the spot where Chadwick had earlier been standing, one of the men – not Chadwick – became agitated and asked if the group was free to leave. The officers informed the group that they were indeed free to leave.

In the area where Chadwick was previously seen standing alone, officers discovered a Jimenez Arms J.A. 9 mm semiautomatic, which was loaded with 11 rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber and was found to have an obliterated serial number, prosecutors said.

Additional officers quickly caught up with the four men. Though the officers did not have sufficient evidence to charge any of them with possessing the firearm, officers did note their names and identifying information.

The firearm, magazine, and ammunition were sent to the Boston Police Latent Print Unit, where a criminalist was able to lift fingerprints from the gun to compare them to Chadwick’s prints, which were already on file from a previous arrest; the prints were matched to Chadwick’s left index and middle fingers, prosecutors said, showing that he had handled the gun.

Based on the fingerprint evidence, police sought a warrant for Chadwick’s arrest and took him into custody. The men with whom Chadwick was interviewed on June 8 were not charged, but Chadwick was ordered to stay away from them while his case is pending.

“Thanks to their training, experience, and knowledge of the law, these officers took a gun off the street and set the stage for a successful prosecution based on solid evidence, not a hunch,” Conley said.

Chadwick was represented by attorney Arnold Abelow.  He will appear in the Suffolk County Gun Court on Sept. 3.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.