Portsmouth Man Sentenced for Straw Purchasing Guns

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Dartanguia Antonious Lee, a 42-year-old Portsmouth man with several previous felony convictions, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for straw purchasing 19 firearms. Court documents reveal that Lee, also known by aliases including Donte and Snoop, used his girlfriend as a straw-purchaser to obtain the weapons from four federally licensed dealers between December 2019 and March 2020.

As a previously convicted felon, Lee is not allowed to purchase or possess firearms or ammunition. He was apprehended in Greensboro, North Carolina, in September 2022, following his federal indictment in Virginia. His arrest was part of a larger drug trafficking investigation that involved multiple firearms. Lee still faces pending charges in North Carolina.

Lee’s sentence comes after the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica D. Aber, and Craig Kailimai, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, announced the sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter G. Osyf prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence across all levels of law enforcement. The Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN in May 2021, focusing on fostering trust within communities and strategic enforcement priorities.

For more information on this case, press releases can be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, while related court documents are available on the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or PACER by searching for Case No. 4:22-cr-44.

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