A Washington D.C. man with a history of gun and drug offenses is headed back to the slammer, this time for nearly a decade, after a street chase with cops ended in his capture, a load of drugs, and a dropped semi-automatic. James Fitzgerald Honesty, 35, was sentenced Monday to 115 months for charges related to unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and intent to distribute PCP and varieties of a synthetic stimulant known as 'boot,' according to federal officials.
The drama unfolded when multiple 911 calls reported an armed Honesty in Southeast D.C., with one caller exclaiming, "he right here, he pulled out a gun on my boyfriend, threatened to kill him,” after Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) responded to the scene back in May, Honesty decided to bolt, leading police on a foot chase that saw him ditching his weapon and his drug-laden satchel. Officers managed to wrangle Honesty and recover the drop items — a Springfield Armory 9mm semi-automatic handgun along with a cocktail of illegal substances were in the satchel, some of those, close to an elementary school.
Honesty's run-in with the law on May 23, 2022, was described as a rapid escalation: calls hit the MPD lines around 6:25 p.m. and squads were dispatched immediately after reports of an altercation involving a gun, described an U.S. Attorney’s Office statement. The chase ensued shortly after officers spotted Honesty, resulting in the discovery of the loaded firearm, equipped with an extended magazine, and a black satchel that contained not only nearly 24 grams of liquid Phencyclidine but also other substances identified as designer drugs.
Aside from the immediate incarceration sentence, Judge Trevor N. McFadden mandated a five-year supervised release for Honesty upon finishing his prison term, marking it as the latest chapter in a criminal career that includes multiple convictions for firearms offenses and drug distribution, the offender who’s been in custody since March 2022 can only reminisce about streets now as he faces cold days behind bars, reflecting on the myriad ways in which his illicit pursuits have recurrently led to imprisonments.
