A metro Atlanta man who pleaded guilty to smuggling illegal guns to Barbados has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison, according to federal officials.
Rashad Sargeant, 27, of College Park, was the last of three defendants to be sentenced for his role in a scheme that sent at least 30 illegal firearms to the Caribbean island nation, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan said in a news release. Sargeant’s sentence includes three years and 10 months in prison, followed by three more years of probation.
Sargeant’s co-defendant, 31-year-old David Johnson of Belleville, Illinois, received an identical sentence, Buchanan said. A third defendant who acted as a “straw purchaser” to buy guns on behalf of Sargeant and Johnson, 28-year-old Shunquez Stephens of Flowery Branch, was sentenced to three years of probation after he pleaded guilty in June 2021.
According to Buchanan, Johnson would recruit gun buyers like Stephens to illegally purchase firearms with no intention of keeping the guns for themselves. Sargeant and Johnson would take the guns, remove the serial numbers, then mail them to Barbados using fake identities. They shipped the guns hidden inside false compartments in boxes using common carriers like UPS, FedEx and DHL.
Johnson entered his guilty plea July 22, 2021, about a month after Stephens first pleaded guilty, Buchanan said. Sargeant was the last defendant to plead guilty on Sept. 2, 2021.
The co-defendants’ illegal gun trafficking scheme was investigated by several federal agencies: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Homeland Security Investigations unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Disrupting the flow of illegal guns inevitably saves lives and reduces overall crime, so I’m glad we were able to stop this scheme to illegally export guns to Barbados,” HSI Special Agent Katrina W. Berger said. “Cases like this highlight the great results that can be achieved when agencies work together to protect our communities.”
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