A Barnesville, Georgia man with a record has been hit with a 65-month stint in the slammer for running a postal gun shop, shipping firearms to the Windy City's streets. Khalif Lee, 29, known as "Killa," got slapped by Chief U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on Feb. 7 with prison time, plus three years supervised release, after copping to charges including being a felon in possession of a firearm and illegally mailing guns, U.S. Attorney's Office officials said.
Lee, whose past includes a felony drug rap in Gwinnett County, was caught after Postal Service workers at an Atlanta distribution hub sniffed out a shady package on Dec. 23, 2022, loaded with an array of firepower destined for Chicago's East Side, detailed court papers describe. The haul had a Berretta 9mm, Springfield and Glock pistols, and a beefy Hi-Point .40, but our man didn't stop there, five days later he tried sending a second batch, this one packing a Taurus, another Glock, a Sig Sauer and a Glock .357 which never made it to its ill-intended recipients thanks to a federal search warrant and some alert postal inspectors, "We have zero tolerance for gun traffickers and will pursue justice in their cases in the Middle District of Georgia," U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary proclaimed, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Lee's little enterprise crumbled when USPS sleuths, alongside ATF brass, linked the sender's address back to him. Forensics was the final nail, finding Lee's prints all over the parcels – that, and his casual call to USPS inquiring about his "missing" package allegedly stuffed with his mother's personal belongings, belies the truth of his illicit operations. "Among ATF's top priorities is ensuring that firearms traffickers are aggressively investigated and swiftly brought to justice," ATF Atlanta Assistant Special Agent in Charge Beau Kolodka weighed in, echoing Leary's zero-tolerance stance.
The harsh sentence for Lee sends a "clear message" that abuse of the mail system to circulate deadly weapons won't fly, said Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division, driving home the point that those exploiting postal channels to funnel firearms will face the full force of the law. Lee's story underscores the larger battle against gun violence, as his case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) - the DOJ's frontline initiative to curb violent crime by harnessing community resources and targeting specific enforcement efforts, an effort fortified since May 26, 2021, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
