VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Taekwon Malik Morris, 27, of Virginia Beach, plead guilty on Tuesday to possession of a machinegun, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
Court documents say Morris was driving with expired temporary tags in Virginia Beach on June 8 of this year when, at an intersection, Virginia Beach police officers pulled up behind him. Morris exited his vehicle to inspect the rear tires, and officers approached him and told him he was being stopped. Morris then fled from police.
After a "brief chase" Morris was arrested. Officers determined he had a 9mm handgun with a machine gun conversion device on the driver-side floorboard in plain view. They also recovered three pills containing Oxycodone, almost a hundred pills containing fentanyl, and nearly $9,000 in cash from Morris while he was arrested.
Morris was previously convicted of grand larceny of a firearm and cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13. He faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison but could face a life sentence, though he likely will not.
