DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of Vermont

For Immediate Release

Monday, January 26, 2015
Eugenia Cowles
, United States Attorney
Contact: AUSA Assigned to the Case

Brooklyn Felon Who Acquired Handguns in Vermont Gets Five Years

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Devon Holmes, a 26 year-old New York City man, was sentenced today to five years imprisonment by Judge William K. Sessions III in federal district court in Burlington. Holmes pleaded guilty to causing a young local woman to buy two handguns for him from a South Burlington, Vermont, firearms dealer in 2013.

With three felony convictions in New York City, federal law barred Holmes from buying or possessing firearms. He circumvented that law by arranging for the female to buy them for him. A few days after acquiring the handguns in Vermont, Holmes had the firearms in rooklyn, New York, when officers with the New York City Police Department made a routine traffic stop.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives traced the two handguns recovered from Holmes in Brooklyn to the purchase in Vermont. After ATF conducted multiple interviews and utilized other investigative techniques, a two-count indictment issued, charging Holmes with possessing the guns as a felon, and arranging the “straw purchase.” He pleaded guilty to the latter offense.

The United States Attorney’s Office thanked ATF and the New York City Police Department for their fine work. Holmes was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender David McColgin. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Bill Darrow.

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Boston Field Division