Charles Wesley Monroe, a 20-year-old from the District of Columbia, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for a series of crimes committed in April 2024. Monroe, who was already on probation for a prior offense, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon.
In a series of incidents last year, Monroe was involved in an armed robbery, a street shooting, and a foot chase with police, where he discarded a firearm. According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, Monroe was previously sentenced in September 2023 for armed robbery, receiving a 66-month prison term with all but 36 months suspended. Now, U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb has ordered that Monroe serve an additional three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Details of the crimes include an armed robbery of an Uber Eats delivery person, which occurred in the early hours on Columbia Road NW. The entire incident was captured on surveillance cameras. Further implicating Monroe, a photo surfaced on Instagram where he appeared with someone else, both wearing the jewelry that had been stolen from the Uber Eats driver.
A few days later, during an evening confrontation on 14th Street, NW, a man and his daughter were caught in the crossfire when gunfire erupted. The man was hit in the left leg, and surveillance footage pinpointed members of Monroe's group as involved in the shooting. During a later encounter on Girard Street, NW, police gave chase to Monroe after he fled, unprovoked, appearing to hold something at his waistband. The man then threw a black and silver Smith & Wesson handgun into a flower bed, which was later swabbed for DNA and matched to Monroe.
The investigations leading to Monroe's sentencing were carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), with additional help coming from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. The case itself was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kyle McWaters and Jared English as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Monroe has been held without bond since his arrest.
