A man who was charged with organizing illegal gun trafficking across state lines from Greenville to other places has been given 11 years in jail.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said on Friday that Jakil Deandre Bond, 28, was given a 141-month prison term for selling drugs and illegal guns.
Authorities said Bond, a real member of the Rollin’ 40s gang of the Crips street gang, set up the purchases of guns through co-defendants Malik Jaree Bazemore and Ti’quiran Rodgers, who is also a real member of the gang.
There were investigations into the case by the Greenville Police Department, the Windsor Police Department, the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, and the D.C. Metro Police Department.
The plan was described by U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. as “an iron pipeline of firepower from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., where shootings fed more gang violence.”
Greenville Police Chief Ted Sauls said, “The Greenville Police Department works seamlessly with local, state, and federal partners to make sure that all crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted, whether they happen only in the city limits of Greenville or, in this case, far beyond our jurisdiction.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office said that from 2019 to November 2021, Bond, Bazemore, Rodgers, and Barron Nathaniel Shaw worked together to bring more than 50 guns from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., and other East Coast cities.
Both Bazemore and Rodgers are from North Carolina. They bought guns from legally licensed dealers in the state and then gave them to Bond, Shaw, and other people. On multiple firearm transaction records, Bazemore and Rodgers lied and said they were buying the guns for their use.
The attorney’s office said that in September 2019, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives began an investigation after the D.C. Metro Police found several guns at crime scenes and killings that had been bought in North Carolina. Police in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and North Carolina found several guns at crime scenes and on the person of known gang members.
The lawyer’s office said Bond put Bazemore and Rodgers in touch with Shaw and other people they knew in D.C. so they could grow their straw-buying business. Bond and Shaw paid Bazemore and Rodgers back for the guns they bought and thanked them for their help with the deals.
ATF officers went to Bond’s apartment in Greenville on January 24, 2023, to serve him with a federal arrest warrant for the gun trafficking plot. Bond was seen leaving the back of the house and putting things on the back porch while they were knocking on the front door. The apartment was searched and 731 grams of cocaine, 33 grams of cocaine base, 64 grams of fentanyl, three guns, different types of ammunition, and other drug-related things were found.
Barron Shaw was given a 48-month prison term on September 8, 2023, for selling guns without a license.
The sentence for Malik Bazemore was 24 months on September 18, 2024. He did business dealing with guns without a license and lied to a nationally licensed firearms dealer about something important.
The sentence for Ti’quiran Rodgers was 24 months on November 7, 2024. He did business dealing with guns without a license and lied to a nationally licensed firearms dealer about something important.
Source: Gang Member Sentenced to 11 Years for Firearm Trafficking
