NORFOLK, Va. — The Department of Justice announced Thursday that 35-year-old Demetrius McGregor, an 11-time convicted felon, had been charged with further gun and drug crimes.
He was arrested by the Norfolk Police Department and a Deputy U.S. Marshall on October 6, 2017, according to the DOJ.
The release said at his apartment, they found 18 bags of cocaine, four digital scales, two assault rifles (one of which was stolen and loaded), multiple magazines and a supply of ammunition. Police also took a handgun from McGregor's waistband.
He had prior convictions for malicious and unlawful wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, attempted robbery and multiple counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Wednesday, he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, and possessing guns to further drug trafficking.
His conviction carries a prison sentence of five years at the minimum, and "life" as the maximum.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said McGregor's case showed one example of how repeat-offenders were driving crime in the area.
"Demetrius McGregor has a long record of violent gun crime in Hampton Roads,” Terwilliger wrote. “Serial violent felons who continue to arm themselves are major drivers of the gun crime that plagues our communities, and we will continue to prioritize cases like this one."
Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone said his department needed to "surgically remove" people like McGregor from the streets, to cut down on gun crime.
“We must not only target violent individuals, but we must also target those sources that afford violent felons to arm themselves in the first place, otherwise the measurable outcomes will be minimum,” Boone wrote.
