NORFOLK, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from July 2021.
A Norfolk man will spend 17.5 years in prison after being convicted of having guns as a felon, having a controlled substance and pressuring witnesses to change their testimony about him.
Jessica Aber, a United States Attorney working for the Department of Justice, said this case goes back to Dec. 18, 2017.
Aber said Adonis Marquis Perry, 32, was already a five-time convicted felon at that time.
On that Monday, officers tried to pull over a car Perry was in. Officials said the car was running through stop signs and taking abrupt turns to avoid the traffic stop.
The car eventually stopped in a parking lot, and after the two people in it got out, they let investigators search the car.
Officers found a Taurus revolver and Glock handgun in the vehicle. The Glock was loaded with an extended magazine. They took Perry into custody.
The DOJ says in jail, Perry spent months calling people to try and suppress the testimony of the other person who had been in the car during his arrest.
"The defendant controlled the witness through fear — at one point before his arrest, he pointed the Glock handgun at the witness and threatened to kill her if she left him, and on jail calls he reminded her that he knew where she and her family members lived," Aber wrote.
She said he also threatened to "hurt or kill" five of his seven attorneys, as far as the DOJ knows. She said Perry "lunged" at one during a federal hearing.
Here are the charges he was convicted of:
- Illegally possessing firearms as a felon
- Four counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice
- One count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.