Isaiah Green Gets 50 Months for Trafficking 31 Guns to DC

Isaiah Green, 28, of Washington D.C., is headed to federal prison for 50 months after admitting to trafficking 31 firearms from Virginia gun shops and pawn stores into the District of Columbia for illegal resale. The sentence, handed down April 24, 2019, by Judge Amit P. Mehta, marks the end of a fast-moving but brazen gun scheme that exploited loopholes and straw buyers to flood the capital with untraceable weapons.

Green pleaded guilty in November 2018 in U.S. District Court to interstate travel in furtherance of illegally dealing in firearms—a charge stemming from a joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Virginia State Police. Following his prison term, he will serve three years under federal supervision.

The operation began in late June 2018, when Green, barred from owning guns due to a prior domestic violence conviction, enlisted a female accomplice to act as a straw buyer. Together, they accepted orders from D.C. residents desperate for weapons, then traveled repeatedly across state lines to purchase firearms from Virginia dealers. The woman filled out federal forms falsely claiming ownership, allowing Green to sidestep background checks.

After acquiring the guns, Green brought them back to a Southeast D.C. apartment where he used a sander to obliterate serial numbers. The erased firearms were then resold for profit on the streets of the capital—weapons now impossible to trace if later used in violent crime. On July 27, 2018, Green and his co-defendant were arrested in D.C. after purchasing four guns at the Dulles Gun Show in Chantilly, Virginia.

During a search of Green’s apartment, authorities recovered five more firearms—all with serial numbers deliberately destroyed. According to court documents, the duo moved 31 guns in just one month. The scheme highlights how easily prohibited individuals exploit interstate gun law disparities to arm violent offenders in cities with strict firearms regulations.

In a related prosecution, Juan Jones, 41, of District Heights, Maryland, pleaded guilty on the same day Green was sentenced—April 24, 2019—for conspiring to obtain firearms through the same pipeline. Jones, already on parole for a prior felony gun conviction, admitted to buying obliterated weapons from Green’s ring. His plea agreement recommends a three-year sentence, with sentencing scheduled for July 24, 2019, before Judge Mehta. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg with support from ATF, MPD, and Virginia authorities.