Federal agents in Tulsa thought they were serving a routine drug warrant. Instead, they walked into something closer to a movie prop room: a spent U.S. military rocket launcher sitting amid firearms and a hefty stash of narcotics. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced Deangelo LaShawn Favors to a 30-year term, or 360 months, for narcotics and firearms offenses, followed by five years of supervised release. Favors, 48, will stay in federal custody until he is transferred to the Bureau of Prisons. The search that uncovered the launcher also produced multiple firearms and large amounts of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Federal prosecutors say Favors was convicted on counts that included being a felon in possession of firearms, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking and maintaining a drug-involved premises, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed the 360-month sentence and the five-year term of supervised release.
What Investigators Found
According to reporting by KOCO, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics opened a bulk fentanyl and meth investigation in 2024 after receiving a tip. Agents eventually placed a tracker on Favors' vehicle, which led them to his apartment and to a storage unit tied to him. With a search warrant in hand, they recovered the spent rocket launcher, several firearms and what the outlet reported as more than 1.9 pounds of fentanyl, over 4.4 pounds of cocaine and more than 14 pounds of methamphetamine.
Charges, Prior Record And Custody
Court records and the U.S. Attorney’s Office state that Favors has multiple prior felony convictions, including aggravated assault and previous drug and firearm convictions in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, per the federal press release. Prosecutors said that history was part of the calculus in the federal case. The U.S. Attorney's Office also confirmed that Favors will remain in custody until he is transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyson McCoy prosecuted the case.
Multi-Agency Investigation
A long list of agencies ended up on the case, with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics working alongside the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the ATF’s Tulsa field office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA’s Tulsa Resident Office, according to KOCO. Investigators from those agencies used the vehicle tracking to support the search warrants that produced the weapons and drug haul.
Why It Matters
Federal sentences of this length are one of the government’s bluntest tools for going after bulk distributors of fentanyl and meth, and the discovery of military ordnance raised the stakes for everyone involved. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has framed the prosecution as a showcase of coordinated, multi-agency work aimed at disrupting trafficking that can drive overdose deaths and neighborhood violence. For now, residents and officials are watching for Favors' transfer into the federal prison system and for any related forfeiture proceedings to play out.
