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Demarco Diggs, 26, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after using Instagram and other means to intentionally sell illegal guns online - largely to convicted felons who were prohibited from purchasing weapons through any other means.
Prosecutors say that between September 2021 and September 2023, police recovered six guns in the region that were later determined to have been purchased and re-sold by Diggs while he lived in Georgia for several months.
Diggs traveled in the summer of 2021 from Georgia to Washington, DC, where he sold the guns to his customers.
"Over the course of his illegal firearms trafficking, Diggs often employed Instagram to identify prospective customers to whom he would re-sell firearms that he purchased," officials said.
Court documents state that Diggs used direct messages to display inventories of weapons for sale to prospective customers, and in one such exchange, Diggs explained to a prospective customer that he was selling his firearms "for people that (can't) get them on (their) own."
According to those documents, Diggs agreed that his firearms dealing involved up to 24 firearms. So far, six have been recovered in the DC Metropolitan area, including some that were used in multiple shootings in the DMV region.
The Aurora, Colorado resident pleaded guilty in November 2023 to engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license and illegal transport of a firearm.
In addition to his prison term, a judge also ordered that Diggs to serve three of supervised release on completion of his prison sentence.
Diggs also agreed to forfeit 25 guns, including pistols, rifles, and shotguns, as well as an assortment of ammunition.
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