WASHINGTON D.C. – A shadowy network funneling guns from Virginia into the District has been exposed with the unsealing of a federal indictment today. Moniqua Jefferson, 31, and Valentino Hall, 28, both of Richmond, Virginia, along with Derrick Boyd Jr., 32, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, are accused of a brazen conspiracy to traffic firearms, directly arming criminals on D.C. streets. The trio were arrested this morning at their respective homes and are currently held pending a detention hearing scheduled for July 17.
According to the indictment, the scheme stretched from September 2022 to September 2024. Jefferson and Hall allegedly acted as the procurement arm, identifying available firearms at licensed retailers in the Richmond area. They then actively sought out buyers who were legally barred from owning guns – individuals with criminal records, those under 21, and others prohibited by federal law. The pair then purchased the weapons and flipped them for profit, using Boyd as one of their distribution channels.
The indictment lays out a chilling pattern. On May 31 and June 1, 2024, Hall and Jefferson allegedly secured a firearm for a co-conspirator, who was subsequently found in possession of the weapon just thirty days later – despite being legally prohibited from owning it. Just seventeen days after Jefferson purchased another firearm on June 6, 2024, that gun surfaced in the hands of an individual under 21 in D.C. The financial trail is also stark: on August 16, 2024, Boyd sent Jefferson $103.01 – a $3.01 premium over the purchase price of a Ruger firearm they’d jointly acquired.
The operation wasn’t limited to single sales. On September 11 and 12, 2024, the trio traveled to Richmond, where Jefferson purchased two identical firearms. Hall then wired Jefferson a payment roughly equivalent to the cost of the guns. Over the course of the alleged conspiracy, spanning from August 2022 to May 2025, Hall and Jefferson are accused of purchasing over 22 firearms. Five of those weapons have already been recovered by law enforcement in both Maryland and the District of Columbia, linked to individuals prohibited from possessing them.
This case is being aggressively prosecuted under the “Make D.C. Safe Again” initiative, a direct response to President Trump’s Executive Order aimed at curbing violence and restoring order in the nation’s capital. The initiative emphasizes federal firearms violations, harsher penalties, and pre-trial detention for those accused of gun crimes. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood are leading the charge.
It’s crucial to remember that these are allegations. Each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted of conspiracy, each faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. The final sentence will be determined by the court, taking into account U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant factors. But one thing is clear: the feds are sending a message – arming criminals will have serious consequences.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington DC
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons|Organized Crime|Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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