Prince George’s County Felon Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge for Illegal Possession of a Firearm
Greenbelt, Maryland – Kweisi Akeem Gray, age 27, of Lanham, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to the federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Acting Special Agent in Charge L.C. Cheeks, Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; and Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department.
According to his guilty plea, on April 9, 2021, a Prince George’s County Police officer saw a car backed into a parking space with its engine running in the Riverdale Road area in New Carrollton, Maryland. The vehicle had no front tag and the rear temporary tag had expired in September 2020. Several men appeared to be smoking inside and outside the vehicle.
The officer activated his lights and pulled his cruiser directly in front of the car. The driver, later identified as Gray, stepped out of the vehicle, looked in the direction of the officer’s cruiser, and put his right arm under the driver’s seat before shutting the door and walking away. The officer stopped Gray in an empty parking space and a second officer arriving on the scene handcuffed Gray for a brief time. The officers smelled the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. A subsequent search recovered a .40 caliber pistol sticking out from under the driver’s seat. The pistol was loaded with one 9mm round of ammunition in the chamber and 12 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in the magazine. Officers also recovered a black plastic bag containing eight grams of marijuana on the front passenger seat. The keys to the car were found in Gray’s pants pocket. Gray was arrested.
Gray knew that as a result of a previous felony conviction, he was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
Gray faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang has scheduled sentencing for May 31, 2022 at 9:00 a.m.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. PSN, an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the ATF and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy F. Hagan and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Kibbe, who are prosecuting the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psnexile and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
