District Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Gun Possession Charge

            WASHINGTON - Kavon D. Young, 28, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a federal firearms charge following his arrest in a traffic stop, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Young pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. The Honorable Christopher R. Cooper scheduled sentencing for Dec. 14, 2018. Young faces an estimated range of 30 to 37 months in prison and up to three years of supervised release. The Court ordered him detained pending sentencing.

            According to the government's evidence, on Feb. 16, 2018, at approximately 10 p.m., an MPD officer, operating in full uniform and in an unmarked police car, was patrolling the Sixth District. The officer saw Young operating a gold-colored Nissan Maxima traveling in the wrong direction on 53rd Street SE, which is a one-way street.

            A few minutes later, while officers were searching for the vehicle, another MPD officer, in full uniform and in a marked police car, observed Young driving at the intersection of 60th and Clay Streets NE. When officers got behind the vehicle in attempt to initiate a traffic stop, Young sped out and turned onto 60th Street NE, which leads to a dead end in the 200 block of the street. Before officers approached or were able to give Young any verbal commands, he immediately jumped out of the vehicle, leaving the driver’s door wide open. Without any prompting from MPD officers, Young went to the ground laying on his stomach with his arms on either side of him. An officer asked, “Any weapons on you?” and he replied “na, it’s in the car.”

            Inside the vehicle, the officers recovered a loaded semi-automatic firearm tucked in between the right side of the driver’s seat and the center console. The magazine had 16 rounds of ammunition, and an additional seven rounds of ammunition was found in the vehicle.

            Young was barred from possessing a firearm because of prior convictions in the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County, Md. In the District of Columbia, he was sentenced in 2016 for various firearms offenses. In Prince George’s County, he was sentenced in 2015 for a firearms offense and a vehicle theft charge.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked in the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Jeannette Litz and Teesha Tobias and Legal Intern Nikeesha D. Nath. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory V. Cole, who prosecuted the case.