A Houston man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on charges of illegal possession of a machine gun, as announced by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. The individual, identified as 21-year-old Latravion Knighten, also known by the alias pg_tray, entered a guilty plea on April 29.
In a statement obtained by the Department of Justice, it was noted that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered the sentence following an examination of Knighten's social media posts, where he not only bragged about the "switch" attached to his weapon but also brandished the gun. The authorities began surveillance on May 10, 2023, on Knighten, a member of the documented Problem Gang, after staying at an AirBNB with a warrant for his arrest.
The surveillance yielded telling evidence when law enforcement observed green flashes from a laser sight, commonly used on firearms, inside the rental property. Following the sighting, Knighten was seen leaving the premises with a handgun tucked in the waistband of his pants, subsequently attempting to shake off what appeared to be a tail from authorities. When authorities believed, Knighten concealed an item by an overgrown tree area; he turned and made an unexpected entrance into the path of an oncoming surveillance vehicle.
Despite being hit by the vehicle, Knighten purportedly stood up and declared his innocence before being arrested. Law enforcement later recovered a .40 caliber Glock model 23 with a machine gun conversion device close to where they saw Knighten run, as well as an extended magazine. The firearm was test-fired and indeed met the definition of a machine gun. After convicting him, Knighten has remained in custody awaiting transfer to a federal prison facility.
The arrest and subsequent prosecution were part of the Houston Law Enforcement Violent Crime Initiative. This initiative is a collaborative effort to stem violent crime, and it falls under the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program. As stated by the Justice Department website, PSN aims to reduce violent crime through a partnership of local stakeholders, focusing on apprehending violent offenders and working with community-based prevention and reentry programs to achieve a lasting dip in crime rates.
