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Navassa Man Sentenced to Over 10 Years for Selling Machine Guns, Cocaine
A Wilmington-area felon has been sentenced to 130 months in prison for armed drug trafficking uncovered through an undercover operation focused on curbing gang violence in the Wilmington and Brunswick County areas.
Devonte Lewis, of Navassa, was sentenced on March 2, 2022, to 130 months in prison for possession of a firearm not registered with the National Firearms Registry, possession of a firearm by a felon, distribution of a quantity of crack cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to court documents, evidence presented in court, and other documents, between November 16, 2021, and December 10, 2021, Lewis sold a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) undercover agent the following: a 9mm handgun with an extended magazine and a 50-round drum, two rifles, one that was stolen, a Glock 45 caliber handgun, a ‘switch’ that converted a Glock 9mm handgun from a semiautomatic into a fully functioning machine gun, a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine, and a .38 caliber handgun. Additionally, Lewis sold the undercover agent a quantity of cocaine on at least two occasions.
On one of those occasions Lewis was armed with a handgun. On March 2, 2022, ATF contacted Ernest Robinson, a co-conspirator, about purchasing a firearm. Robison and Lewis arrived together to meet the undercover agent, and Lewis brought in an AR-10 rifle with a large capacity magazine and a revolver. The agent paid Robinson for the guns after he said they belonged to him. Robinson is a validated Blood gang member and, like Lewis, a convicted felon.
This is part of ‘Operation Golfer,’ which is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launders, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
U.S. Attorney Michael Easley, for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Wilmington Police Department, and the Duplin, New Hanover, and Brunswick County Sheriffs’ Offices investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Severo and Gabe Diaz prosecuted the case.
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Drug Trafficking, Violent Crime, Weapons
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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