A metro Atlanta man was arraigned on federal charges after officials said he and five people from Augusta conspired to steal hundreds of firearms from gun stores in three states.
Prather Abrams, 35, of Decatur, was indicted on the conspiracy charge in December, U.S Attorney's Office spokesman Bob Page said Thursday.
While co-conspirators Asia Keith and Natasha Turner served as lookouts, Devonnaire Coffey, Darryle Butler and Bilal Maxey stole 129 firearms from gun stores in Georgia and North Carolina, U.S. Attorney John Horn said. They tried to break into three additional stores in Georgia and South Carolina, he said.
“The multiple burglaries and attempted burglaries occurred at stores in McDonough, and Canton, Ga., Charlotte and Rocky Mount, N.C., and Rock Hill, S.C.,” Page said.
Abrams allegedly participated in one of the Georgia burglaries.
Coffey and Butler eventually sold the stolen firearms, Horn said.
“Unfortunately, all too often, these stolen firearms go directly into the hands of violent criminals and are eventually recovered at crime scenes in our own communities and in other regions of the country,” said C.J. Hyman, the special agent in charge of the Charlotte field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In addition to conspiracy, Coffey, 26, Butler, 27, Turner, 25, and Keith, 20, were charged with theft of firearms and possession of stolen firearms. Butler faces an additional charge of felon in possession of a firearm.
Like Abrams, they were all indicted by a federal grand jury in December.
“The indictment of these individuals is the result of ATF successfully working in collaboration with our state and local partners to aggressively investigate the theft of firearms from federal firearms licensees,” Hyman said.
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