Source: Office of United States Attorneys
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man was sentenced today to six years and six months in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
According to court documents, on July 12, 2023, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) observed Torrean Dontae Whitlow, 34, with the extended magazine of a firearm protruding from his waistband. Whitlow was convicted in 2008 for arson of an occupied dwelling and in 2013 for being a felon in possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, Whitlow cannot legally possess a firearm or ammunition. The agents also observed Whitlow conducting suspected narcotics transactions with four people in a ten-minute span in a parking lot in Hampton.
The ATF agents notified officers with the Hampton Police Department, who then also observed Whitlow conduct several suspected narcotic transactions with the extended firearm magazine visible. After Whitlow departed the parking lot in a taxi, officers placed Whitlow under arrest. When the officers searched the taxi, they located a handgun with a 32-round magazine.
Following Whitlow’s arrest, law enforcement executed a search warrant on the vehicle from which Whitlow had been observed conducting narcotics transactions and located, among other things, two scales and plastic baggies containing cocaine and methamphetamine.
Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division; and Jimmie Wideman, Chief of Hampton Police, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa R. McKeel and Alyson C. Yates and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marcus Johnson and Alyssa Levey-Weinstein prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:23-cr-91.