Judge sentences Kent man to 3 years in prison for gun violations

A 33-year-old Kent man received a three-year prison sentence for illegally purchasing and trafficking more than 130 firearms.

Fifty-four of the guns recovered were reportedly used in crimes, including one tied to drive-by shootings and a homicide, according to a Dec. 6 U.S. Department of Justice press release.

Dion Jamar Cooper received the sentence Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He used a “straw purchaser” scheme to buy the guns, according to U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. A straw purchase means buying on behalf of other people.

Cooper was arrested in April 2023, following an investigation by Seattle Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.

“Do you understand the damage that has been done in the community?” U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez asked Cooper at the sentencing hearing. “If people engage in straw purchasing and distribute the firearms in our community, or any community, there will be a serious consequence that follows.”

Guns trafficked by Cooper continue to be connected with crimes.

“Even as Mr. Cooper has awaited sentencing, we are finding additional crime guns linked to his straw purchasing activity,” Gorman said. “Fifty-four of the guns Mr. Cooper purchased have been recovered and connected to crimes such as armed robberies; two bank robberies; several carjackings and assaults; numerous drive-by shootings; numerous other shots-fired incidents; and at least one homicide.”

According to records in the case, the investigation began in late January 2023, with the assault and attempted robbery of a woman in Rainier Valley in Seattle. The victim was able to flee in her car. Police found a firearm in her vehicle that had been dropped by one of the assailants.

A check of the firearm revealed it had been purchased by Cooper on Dec. 10, 2022. That recovery led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) to check Cooper’s purchase history. Cooper had purchased 107 firearms since June 2021. Further investigation put the number of guns purchased at 133. Meaning more than 70 guns reportedly are still out in the community likely possessed by those who are legally prohibited from having firearms.

During March and April 2023, agents surveilled Cooper as he made arrangements to purchase additional firearms. Agents identified De’ondre Lamontia Phillips, 33 of Federal Way, as the person who drove Cooper to the gun shops where he purchased the firearms.

Phillips is prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms due to convictions for distribution of heroin (2014) and convictions for illegal firearms possession and two counts of assault (2009). Surveillance of the two revealed Cooper turning the firearms over to Phillips who stored them in his residence. Phillips was sentenced last month to seven years in prison.

In February 2024, Cooper pleaded guilty to two counts of making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of firearms, one count of straw purchasing firearms and one count of trafficking in firearms.

In asking for a sentence at the top of the guidelines range, Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg noted that Cooper was the “largest known straw purchaser of firearms in the history of the Western District of Washington…. According to the ATF analysis, all of the… crime guns were recovered from persons who were legally prohibited from possessing firearms, either because they were convicted felons and/or were underage juveniles.

“This is not surprising, given the nature of straw purchasing offenses…. Notably, several of the recovered crime guns had very short “time-to-crime” periods (the amount of time between the firearm purchase and its recovery at a crime scene). These recovery periods included some as short as two days and others of six days, seven days, and eight days. This reflects that Cooper was purchasing firearms and turning them over to people who nearly immediately used them to commit violent crimes.”