Raleigh Man Sentenced to 60 Months for Illegally Possessing a Firearm

RALEIGH – Robert J. Higdon, Jr., the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announces that United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced DEVANTI ALEXANDER ROGERS, 34, of Raleigh to 60 months’ imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised released.

On June 6, 2018, ROGERS was named in a one-count Indictment charging him with Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.  On February 12, 2019, ROGERS pled guilty to the charge. 

 On February 20, 2017, officers of the Raleigh Police Department were dispatched to a motor vehicle wreck in Raleigh.  When the officers arrived on scene, they observed DAVANTI ALEXANDER ROGERS walking on the sidewalk and noticed the defendant was not wearing pants.

The officers detained ROGERS and searched his vehicle, which was stalled against a street sign.  The search revealed a glass vial containing a residual amount of phencyclidine (PCP), a Schedule II controlled substance, and a .380 caliber handgun, which was loaded with six rounds of ammunition in the magazine. The firearm was reported stolen on February 12, 2017, from a home in Raleigh; however, there is no evidence that the defendant was involved in the theft of the firearm.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Since 2017 the United States Department of Justice has reinvigorated the PSN program and has targeted violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime. 

This case is also part of the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violence crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.  For more information on this initiative click here https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/tbnc

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Raleigh Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives.  

Assistant United States Attorney Daniel W. Smith prosecuted the case for the government.