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A previously convicted felon will spend more than a decade in prison after selling several weapons, including at least four illegal “ghost guns” to undercover agents posing as buyers, federal officials announced.
Sean Donnelly Hawkins, 48, of Marbury, was sentenced to 138 months in federal prison for his role in in connection to the distribution of cocaine, crack cocaine, and weapons in Charles County after selling eight guns to investigators.
As part of his plea, Hawkins admitted that on 10 separate times between October 2021 and May 2022, he sold to the under cover officers, including privately-made guns and nearly 500 rounds of ammunition.
Hawkins knew that he had a previous felony conviction and was therefore prohibited from possessing guns or ammunition, prosecutors noted. He also had reason to believe that the agents he sold the weapons to had ill intentions and seemingly had the intention of using or disposing of the guns illegally.
In August last year, a search warrant at Hawkins’ home led to the seizure of:
- Loaded .38 special caliber revolver;
- 9mm semi-automatic pistol;
- Two empty firearm magazines;
- Marijuana;
- A mixture of powder and crack cocaine;
- 20 green tablets of a mixture of cocaine and oxycodone;
- White tablets that were found to be a mixture of cocaine and oxycodone;
- Two shotguns;
- More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition;
- $1,264 in cash.
“Hawkins possessed the firearms, ammunition, and magazines recovered in the cooler in furtherance of his drug trafficking,” federal officials said.
In addition to his prison term, Hawkins was also ordered by a judge to serve five years of probation upon his release. He will also have to forfeit and abandon any guns, ammunition, or magazines that were seized during the course of the investigation.
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