A Virginia state trooper’s speed gun has helped federal investigators unravel a firearms smuggling ring with a pipeline to the District of Columbia’s street gangs, authorities told The Examiner.
Michael “White Boy” Lewis and Troy Burke were indicted on federal conspiracy and weapons charges earlier this month, court papers show. They are accused of stealing at least 60 guns from Virginia gun shops and selling them to couriers, who in turn sold them on D.C.’s streets.
“It was a very active group,” said Edgar A. Domenech, special agent in charge of the Washington field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Most of those guns were headed to the District.”
There were 12 gun shop robberies or burglaries in Virginia last year, Domenech said. Lewis and Burke are charged with three of them, he said.
Lewis was asuspect in one of the gun shop burglaries, Domenech said. Authorities had seen his face on a surveillance camera and a tipster had provided his nickname, but authorities didn’t have conclusive evidence until Lewis blew past a Virginia state trooper on Interstate 66, Domenech said.
Riding on a newly bought silver motorcycle, Lewis was traveling at 99 mph, according to court documents.
After a six-mile chase, Lewis abandoned the motorcycle on the shoulder of Interstate 66. In the leather biker’s bag, state troopers found five handguns with serial numbers that matched up with weapons stolen from one of the gun shops, court documents state. Lewis also left his identification behind.
“It was real nice of him,” Domenech said. “It made our jobs a little easier.”
It’s hard to put a figure on how much damage gun smugglers do on D.C.’s streets, officials said.
Last year, 181 people were killed in D.C., most of them with illegal firearms.
Two of the guns from the ring were recovered in Southeast, after ATF agents got a tip that three of Lewis’ and Burke’s buyers were heading into town in a red sport utility vehicle, according to court papers. One of the men arrested that night told authorities that Lewis had been selling his weapons for a long time before their arrests.
Stolen firearms
Some weapons the ATF says were recovered from the gun ring:
» H&K USP Compact .45 caliber pistol
» Sig Sauer Mosquito .22 caliber pistol
» Beretta, 92fs, 9 mm pistol
» Beretta .40 caliber
» Sig Sauer Revolution XO, .45 caliber pistol
