[PR] District Man Sentenced to 102 Months in Federal Prison for Firearm Trafficking Conspiracy and Shooting of a Juvenile

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 28, 2020

WASHINGTON – Jonathan Webb, 22, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 102 months in federal prison in connection with a long term firearm trafficking investigation and a shooting in Southeast Washington, D.C. that left one juvenile severely injured announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin, Ashan 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),

            On July 10, 2019, Webb pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Engage in the Trafficking of Firearms and Aggravated Assault While Armed before United States District Court Judge Amit Mehta.

            Today’s sentence is the result of an investigation by ATF, MPD, and the Virginia State Police into a firearms trafficking ring based out of Washington, D.C. in which members of the conspiracy were traveling to Virginia to illegally purchase firearms before filing-off the serial numbers and reselling them in the District of Columbia and Maryland.

            According to the court documents, on June 27, 2018, Webb traveled with two co-conspirators to a firearms store in Virginia in order to acquire a firearm.  Webb entered the firearm store, inspected firearms, and soon thereafter, handed money to a co-conspirator who agreed to purchase the firearm on his behalf.  After purchasing the firearm, the three conspirators traveled back to Washington, D.C. where they filed-off the serial number for the firearm and Webb took possession of the firearm. Webb’s co-conspirators purchased approximately 31 firearms during the course of this conspiracy.  Webb assisted the co-conspirators in finding buyers for some of their firearms.  On at least one occasion, Webb and other members of the conspiracy posed for photographs while holding firearms and filmed a music video using firearms purchased during the course of this conspiracy.

            In court papers referencing the Aggravated Assault While Armed, on October 8, 2018, Webb saw a juvenile walking on the sidewalk down the 3200 block of Stanton Road SE in Washington, D.C.  As the juvenile continued walking further down Stanton Road, Webb emerged from between two houses, immediately drew his firearm and fired multiple bullets at the juvenile, striking him multiple times.  As a result of the shooting, the juvenile suffered a pelvic fracture, a left arm fracture, right thigh fracture, and a spinal injury that caused paralysis.

             This case was investigated by ATF and MPD with the assistance of the Virginia State Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section and Emile Thompson of the Homicide Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.