District Man Pleads Guilty to Firearms Trafficking Aggravated Assault While Armed

           WASHINGTON – Jonathan Webb, 22, of Washington D.C., pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a long-term multi-jurisdictional firearm trafficking investigation as well as a shooting that occurred in Southeast Washington, D.C. that left a teenager severely injured.

           The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ashan Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

           On July 10, 2019, Webb pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging Conspiracy to Engage in the Trafficking of Firearms and Aggravated Assault While Armed.  Webb will be sentenced by United States District Court Judge Amit Mehta on September 5, 2019.

           Yesterday’s plea agreement is the result of a long-term investigation by ATF, MPD, and the Virginia State Police into a firearms trafficking ring operating in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Members of the conspiracy traveled from D.C. into Virginia to illegally purchase firearms, and then returned to the District to file-off the serial numbers and resell the guns.

           According to court documents, during the summer of 2018, Webb, who was prohibited from lawfully purchasing a gun, traveled with his co-conspirators to a licensed firearms dealer in Virginia to acquire a firearm. After Webb selected a pistol, he handed money to a co-conspirator who purchased the firearm on his behalf. Webb and his co-conspirators then returned to Washington, D.C., where they filed-off the serial number and Webb took possession of the firearm. Webb’s co-conspirators trafficked approximately 31 firearms during the course of this conspiracy. 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.

           According to court documents, on October 8, 2018, a teenager, identified in court records by the initials “E.L.”, was walking down the sidewalk in the Congress Heights area of the city, when E.L. saw Webb standing on a porch.  E.L. continued walking, but encountered Webb again on the block when Webb walked out from between two houses and approached the teenager.  Webb immediately drew a firearm and fired repeatedly at E.L. The teenager was hit multiple times, suffering a pelvic fracture, a left arm fracture, right thigh fracture, and a spinal injury; E.L. suffered from paralysis because of the spinal injury.

           Finally, they commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg, of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emile Thompson, of the Homicide Section, who prosecuted the case.