Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

WASHINGTON - Decondi Mayo, 46, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 84 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Weddel, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Decondi Mayo pleaded guilty in September 2022, in the United States District Court, to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. In addition to the seven year prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman ordered three years of supervised release.

According to the government’s evidence, on January 29, 2021, at approximately 3 p.m., members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Crime Suppression Team were on patrol in the 2200 block of Bryan Place, S.E., Washington, DC. The officers observed the defendant reaching into the passenger side window of a blue Nissan Maxima with Maryland paper tags. The defendant looked in the officers’ direction as they pulled into the block and he immediately separated himself from the vehicle and continued to look back over his shoulder at officers. Shortly thereafter, the defendant walked up concrete steps toward a boarded up and uninhabitable home located at 2212 Bryan Place, SE. Officers parked, exited their vehicles, and observed the defendant continually pressing his right arm against the right side of his jacket as if he was attempting to secure an object on the front of his person. An officer then observed the defendant discard a pistol from his front waistband area. The defendant was subsequently arrested and found with a magazine with ten live rounds. The recovered firearm that the defendant tossed was a 9mm Glock 26 with one round of ammunition in the chamber and sixteen rounds in the magazine.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves, Acting SAC Weddel, and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from Project Safe Neighborhood from both the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Karla Nunez.

Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Shehzad Akhtar, former Assistant United States Attorney Brandon Regan, former Assistant United States Attorney Kaitlin Ann Vaillancourt and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina Cervi who investigated and prosecuted the case.