Robert D’Angelo Poteat, 40, a previously convicted felon residing in the District of Columbia, was sentenced on July 21 in U.S. District Court to 33 months in prison for illegally possessing a loaded firearm and high-capacity magazines that were recovered after he fled from a police traffic stop, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Poteat pleaded guilty on April 22 before Judge Timothy J. Kelly to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Kelly ordered Poteat to serve three years of supervised release.
According to court papers, at about 12:35 a.m. on December 22, Metropolitan Police Department officers stopped a pickup truck driven by Poteat in the 2400 block of 14th Street NW for a lane violation. An officer saw a firearm with an extended magazine in plain view on the passenger side floorboard and called for backup. As additional officers arrived and one opened the driver’s side door, Poteat sped off at a high rate of speed. Officers later identified him from department records as the driver who fled.
About two hours later, officers found the truck parked in the 800 block of Princeton Place NW with Poteat unconscious in the driver’s seat. Officers called MPD’s Emergency Response Team, which established contact with Poteat and ordered him out of the vehicle. He exited with a cross-body satchel and had a firearm tucked into his waistband.
Officers recovered a loaded .40-caliber Glock 23 with an extended, 29-round magazine from his waistband; they also found a 50-round drum magazine and a 15-round magazine inside his satchel.
Poteat was previously convicted in D.C. Superior Court of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in two separate cases, including one from 2015 where he was sentenced to two years imprisonment followed by eighteen months supervised probation.
The Metropolitan Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Washington Field Office investigated this case. The prosecution was handled under the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful initiative by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Travis Wolf and Lauren Ibanez.
Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful is described as “a law enforcement initiative in support of President Trump’s Executive Order to crack down on gun violence, prioritize federal firearms violations, pursue tougher penalties, and seek detention for federal firearms violators.”