Previously Deported Jamaican Drug Trafficker Pleads Guilty in D.C. to Firearms Counts, Illegal Re-entry
WASHINGTON – Damion Alexander Peddie, a Jamaican citizen who previously was convicted of multiple drug trafficking offenses and has been removed from the United States on at least four prior occasions, pleaded guilty this morning in U.S. District Court in connection with possessing a cache of weapons and narcotics and for illegally re-entering the country, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Peddie, 54, pleaded guilty before Judge Timothy J. Kelly to a three-count information charging him with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, to alien in possession of a firearm, and to unlawful re-entry of a previously removed alien. Judge Kelly scheduled sentencing for March 20, 2026.
Peddie faces a statutory maximum of 15 years imprisonment for each of his firearms offenses, and a statutory maximum of 20 years imprisonment for his unlawful re-entry offense.
“This guy is the worst of the worst,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “He’s a repeat offender, a convicted cocaine trafficker, an illegal alien after being deported four times, who had an arsenal of firearms and possessed fentanyl and crack cocaine in distribution quantities at his house in Northwest Washington. I’m going to make certain that this time he’s going to be sent away for a long, long time.”
Joining U.S. Attorney Pirro in the announcement was FBI Assistant Director in Charge Darren B. Cox of the Washington Field Office and DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher C. Goumenis of the Drug Enforcement Administration Washington Division.
According to court documents, in the Summer of 2024, FBI agents initiated a long-term investigation of a drug trafficking conspiracy centered around the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE. Law enforcement had identified an alleged fentanyl and PCP trafficker with a stash house in the 2900 block of Knox Place. Over the course of their investigation into the trafficker’s narcotics suppliers, investigating agents determined that Peddie was conspiring with members of the drug trafficking operation (DTO) in the redistribution of fentanyl, amongst other narcotics.
On August 26, 2025, FBI agents executed a search warrant at a home on the 400 block of Taylor Street NW as part of a coordinated arrest and search warrant operation in connection with the Knox Place DTO investigation. After entering the building, the agents encountered Peddie walking down the stairs from the second floor.
In Peddie’s bedroom, agents found a “ghost gun,” that is, a privately manufactured black 9mm Polymer 80 pistol (PMF) with no serial number, and a .22 caliber handgun. Agents also recovered approximately seven pounds of marijuana, along with distribution quantities of fentanyl and crack cocaine, all of which Peddie possessed with the intent to distribute.
In the first floor of the home, agents found an H&R 32 S&W revolver, an AR-style ghost-gun, six ammunition magazines, various rounds of ammunition, and a High Point 9mm carbine rifle.
This criminal case is Peddie’s fifth conviction in United States District Court for unlawful re-entry of a previously removed alien. Peddie has been convicted of the same offense on four prior occasions: in the District of Maryland in January 1996, as well as the District of Columbia in May 2004, October 2010, and October 2013.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office, with assistance from the DEA Washington and Greenbelt Divisions and the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Kinskey, John Parron, and John Crabb of the Violence Reduction and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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