Five people have been arrested and federally charged over an alleged scheme that moved dozens of firearms from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of Justice said. ATF agents made the arrests after a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a 13-count indictment; four defendants were arrested in Maryland and one in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of North Carolina

The indictment charges conspiracy to traffic firearms, firearms trafficking, and making false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer, U.S. Attorneys Ellis Boyle and Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced. On October 20, the Make DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force executed the five federal arrest warrants. Investigators allege the group supplied upwards of approximately 40 firearms to people across Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Saint Georges, Grenada.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Columbia

The defendants are Brian “B” Agee, 40; Arnise Lecresha Young, 33; Frank “Fatboy” Rayvone Harris, 38; Antonique Whitaker, 34; and Christian Shedetta Atkinson, 30, the Justice Department said. Two of them — Young and Whitaker — hold valid Special Police Officer licences in the District of Columbia, according to the indictment announcement. Prosecutors allege Harris and Agee coordinated the financing of the scheme through Whitaker and Young.

At a Wednesday announcement covered by WJLA (7News), U.S. Attorney Pirro described the network as a “conveyor belt of weapons” into the capital. “Gun-running networks do not respect state lines, and neither does our determination to stop them,” Pirro said in the Justice Department statement. ATF Director Rob Cekada said: “If you traffic firearms to violent criminals, gang members, or prohibited persons, ATF will find you and hold you accountable.”

Source: WJLA 7News

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 15 years in federal prison on the trafficking counts and 10 years on the false-statement counts, the Justice Department said, with any sentence set by a federal judge under the sentencing guidelines. The case is No. 5:26-CR-218 in the Eastern District of North Carolina, and ATF is investigating. An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.