U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced several high-profile drug trafficking arrests this week amid President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.
The FBI on Tuesday executed about 20 residential search warrants in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Los Angeles as part of a year-long investigation into a D.C.-based drug trafficking ring accused of distributing PCP and fentanyl near the 2900 block of Knox Place SE, Pirro announced via a Justice Department press release.
Agents seized 18 firearms—including an AR-style rifle, a shotgun, and a Draco-style pistol—along with a pill press used to manufacture fentanyl pills, more than two kilograms of suspected narcotics, and over $50,000 in cash, the DOJ said.
The action follows last week’s indictment of eight people by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia: two from California, one from Baltimore, and five from the Washington metropolitan area, all charged in the conspiracy, the press release added.
The FBI, working with the DEA and the Metropolitan Police Department, arrested seven of the indicted defendants: Leonard Edwards, 52, of Washington, D.C.; Eric “Marbury” Prather, 43, of Washington, D.C.; Thomas Wilton Hancock Jr., also known as “Fresh,” 43, of Baltimore, Md.; Sarda Smith, 36, of Oxon Hill, Md.; Michael Thomas, 49, of Los Angeles, Calif.; Reginald Lassiter, 39, of Washington, D.C.; and Darryl Riley, 39, of Washington, D.C.
Joining Pirro in announcing the case were FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Phil Bates, DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher C. Goumenis, and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith.
One defendant remains at large and is considered a fugitive. The indictment against that individual is still under seal, said the DOJ.
The Knox Place neighborhood has recorded at least five homicides in the past year, along with other violent crimes. Prosecutors allege the D.C.-based traffickers obtained drugs through a Baltimore co-conspirator who sourced shipments from California. One load, intercepted earlier this year near Topeka, Kansas, included 17 gallons of PCP.
Federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia, meanwhile, will no longer bring felony charges against people accused of possessing rifles or shotguns under local law, Pirro announced last month.
The new policy, issued by the nation’s largest U.S. attorney’s office, limits prosecutions to cases where long guns are used in violent crimes or when a defendant is barred from possessing firearms due to a criminal record. Local D.C. authorities may still bring charges for unregistered rifles and shotguns, The Associated Press reported.
Pirro, who was appointed by Trump in May, said the shift follows Justice Department and solicitor general guidance and reflects recent Supreme Court rulings that expanded gun rights. She pointed to the court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down a handgun ban, and the 2022 ruling that invalidated New York’s strict carry law.
“A blanket ban on possessing shotguns and rifles cannot stand under the Supreme Court’s guidance,” Pirro said. “We will continue to seize all illegal and unlicensed firearms, and to vigorously prosecute all crimes connected with them.”
The new policy also applies to large-capacity magazines but does not affect handgun cases.
The decision came as Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, deploying hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents. Since the start of the crackdown this month, the White House says authorities have seized 76 firearms.
Pirro, a former Fox News host and frequent critic of the city’s crime policies, said the shift ensures her office will target “gun crime” while respecting constitutional protections.
Pirro also announced last month that a woman had been arrested for threatening Trump.
“Nathalie Rose Jones is now in custody, charged with two federal crimes for knowingly and willfully threatening to take the life of the President of the United States,” Pirro said in a video.
Jones has since been released after a DC grand jury refused to indict her, marking the second time in weeks that has happened in cases brought by Pirro, PBS reported.