An Aurora, Colorado man, 26-year-old Demarco Diggs, has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars for running an unlicensed firearms dealing operation and funneling guns into Washington D.C., where several were used in violent crimes, authorities said. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Diggs was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and has forfeited an arsenal of 25 firearms, including handguns, rifles, and ammo collected by the feds.
Diggs, who dealt his deadly merchandise largely through Instagram, intentionally sold firearms to convicts who were barred from owning them and now six of the weapons have been picked up in the nation's capital involved in various shootings and theft according to the Justice Department; acting U.S. Marshal Ronald Carter of the U.S. Marshals Service and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department also announced the sentencing. Diggs previously admitted to the charges on November 14, 2023 pledging guilty to one count of dealing firearms without a license and one count of illegal transport of a firearm.
Led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) along with the Metropolitan Police Department and the collaboration of the United States Marshals Service, the investigation drew a sobering sketch of a lethal trade plied with ease across state lines and social media. According to court records, Diggs had procured nearly two dozen firearms from both federal firearm licensees and gun shows between 2020 and 2023 before reselling them for profit, in a calculated scheme stretching from Georgia to D.C.
In direct messages on Instagram, Diggs brazenly displayed his inventory to potential buyers stating his aim was to sell to those who "can’t get them on [their] own," reflecting a cavalier attitude toward the law and public safety as he connected guns to hands that law had judged should not hold them—the very hands that would squeeze triggers and spray bullets into streets ostensibly patrolled to prevent such terror, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
Two searches on March 24, 2023, at residences linked to Diggs in Colorado resulted in the seizure of over half a dozen firearms and assorted ammunition, bearing serial numbers connected to crimes in D.C., further tightening the web of evidence around him. The case is prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew W. Kinskey of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section and Trial Attorney Ethan Cantor of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division with help from Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam L.D. Stempel and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy T. Wang.
