Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Defendant Has Multiple Convictions for Previous Firearms Offenses

            WASHINGTON – Tyron Hines, a repeat felon with a long history of weapons offenses, was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for illegal possession of a Smith and Wesson M&P polymer pistol while also in possession of a significant quantity of deadly narcotics.

            The sentencing was announced today U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge Craig Kailimai of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Hines, 32, pled guilty on October 16, 2023, to carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. In addition to the 72-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered Hines to serve 3 years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, Hines was most recently arrested the evening of June 4, 2023. Two MPD officers were on patrol in a marked cruiser in Southeast when they observed a large group singing and dancing on the 2200 block of Savannah Terrace, SE. As the officers approached the group, Hines quietly peeled off from the crowd with his head down. The officers followed and tried to gain Hines’ attention. Hines ignored them, turned behind a black SUV, and placed a metallic object under the vehicle. Then Hines began to run. The two officers gave chase. One paused to look under the SUV where he recovered a black Smith and Wesson MP9 M 2.0 with 11 rounds of ammunition in a magazine that could hold 17 rounds. Later tests determined the pistol had been stolen from Prince George’s County in March 2020.

            Officers stopped Hines on the 2100 block of Savannah Terrace SE and searched him. Hines was carrying 20 suspected fentanyl pills and a bag of a white rock-like substance that weighed 26 grams, nearly an ounce. The substance field-tested tested positive for crack cocaine. Officers also recovered $920 in cash. Based on the quantity of narcotics, the lack of drug paraphernalia, and the wad of cash, it appeared that Hines possessed the drugs with the intent to distribute rather than for personal use. The arrest marked the fifth time Hines had been charged in connection with unlawful possession of a firearm in fewer than 15 years.

            About two weeks before, on May 13, 2023, following an early morning shootout at a Dupont parking garage, Hines drove a wounded friend in his black BMW sedan and parked at a hospital. When officers arrived, they found Hines’ BMW and spotted a black Glock 35 .40 caliber handgun with a 29-round magazine on the floor. A subsequent search of the car turned up a second firearm underneath the driver’s seat: a tan Glock 19 mm handgun with one bullet in the chamber and 15 rounds loaded in the 17-round magazine. Additionally, the Smith and Wesson was found to have been outfitted with a “giggle switch,” a device that converts a semi-automatic into a fully automatic machinegun. The Government does not believe that either firearm recovered from Hines’ BMW belonged to Hines that evening.

            On June 28, 2023, in a search of Hines’ apartment on Kenilworth Terrace NE, MPD officers recovered a loaded Del-Ton Inc. AR-15 style 5.56 rifle, a ballistic vest, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

            Hines has previously been convicted of offenses carrying a maximum term of imprisonment of greater than one year. On February 5, 2010, Hines was sentenced to 24 months on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault with significant bodily injury after shooting into a crowd of 50 people and seriously wounding three of them. On April 13, 2018, Hines was sentenced in D.C. Superior Court to 24 months’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of a firearm (prior conviction). And on January 11, 2021, Hines was sentenced in D.C. Superior Court to 18 months on a similar charge. Hines was on supervised release for that case at the time of his arrest for his most current offense.

            This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Metropolitan Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Tepfer.