District Man Sentenced to 50 Months in Prison for Illegally Trafficking 31 Firearms From Virginia into the District of Columbis for Resale
Second Defendant Also Pleads Guilty in Case
WASHINGTON – Isaiah Green, 28, of Washington D.C., has been sentenced to a 50-month prison term for his role in a gun trafficking scheme in the District of Columbia, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Green pled guilty in November 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of interstate travel in connection with engaging in the business of illegally dealing in firearms. He was sentenced on April 24, 2019, by the Honorable Amit P. Mehta. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.
The guilty plea followed an investigation by ATF, MPD, and the Virginia State Police into Green’s role in the purchase of significant quantities of firearms during the summer of 2018. Green and another individual were arrested on July 27, 2018, in the District of Columbia after allegedly purchasing four firearms at the Dulles Gun Show in Chantilly, Virginia. An additional five firearms, all with obliterated serial numbers, were recovered by law enforcement from an apartment in the District of Columbia where Green was living at the time.
According to the government’s evidence, beginning in or around June 27, 2018, Green and the other individual began accepting orders for firearms purchases from people residing within the District of Columbia. To fulfill the orders, the two traveled to various gun stores and pawn shops throughout Virginia. The other individual would fill out ATF forms and falsely assert that she was the intended owner of the firearm. Green could not purchase the firearms himself because he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms due to a prior domestic violence conviction.
After purchasing the firearms, the two traveled back to an apartment in Southeast Washington, where Green used a sanding tool to remove the serial numbers from the firearms so that the firearms could not be traced back to them after they were sold. The two would then illegally sell the firearms for a profit within the District of Columbia.
As part of the plea agreement, Green admitted that he and his co-defendant purchased 31 firearms for illegal resale in a one-month time period in 2018.
In a related development, a third person pled guilty on April 24, 2019, for purchasing firearms from Green and his co-defendant. Juan Jones, 41, of District Heights, Md., pled guilty to conspiring to violate federal laws connected to his involvement in requesting straw purchased firearms with obliterated serial numbers. Jones is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a prior felony conviction for a gun crime and he is currently on parole for this offense. Jones is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Mehta on July 24, 2019. His plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of three years in prison.
This case is being investigated by the ATF and MPD with the assistance of the Virginia State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
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