FILE PHOTO ( Luiz C. Ribeiro Archive/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
ATLANTA - Alvin Demar, 47, and Joshua Carter, 29, have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking dozens of firearms that were later recovered from crime scenes in multiple states and Canada. Jamal Plunkett was also sentenced for possessing one of the trafficked firearms.
According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, between July 2021 and January 2022, Alvin Demar, a convicted felon with a history of drug trafficking and aggravated robbery, paid individuals, including Joshua Carter, to straw purchase dozens of handguns in the metro Atlanta area. Demar then sold these straw-purchased weapons to others who trafficked or used them in further crimes.
The guns purchased and sold by Carter and Demar were recovered from crime scenes in Atlanta; Baltimore, Maryland; the District of Columbia; Gainesville; French Camp, California; Edmonton, Canada; and Toronto, Canada. Some of these firearms were used in shootings before being confiscated by law enforcement. For example, in November 2021, Carter purchased a Glock pistol linked to three shootings in Atlanta. Carter also bought a Ruger pistol equipped with an extended magazine, which was later stolen and discharged 17 times by Jamal Plunkett, a convicted felon, in Gainesville, Georgia.
Demar also illegally possessed numerous firearms. In December 2019, Atlanta police officers arrested him after finding a loaded Glock pistol in a vehicle he was driving. In November 2022, federal agents found another loaded Glock pistol in Demar’s bedroom and a USAS-12 semiautomatic shotgun in his garage. The USAS-12 is classified as a destructive device under federal law, requiring registration in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Due to his criminal history, Demar was prohibited from possessing firearms of any type.
Demar, who is from Decatur, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross to 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Demar was convicted of two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, conspiracy to make false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer, making a false statement to a federally licensed firearms dealer, and possession of an unregistered destructive device. He pleaded guilty to these charges on March 27, 2024.
Carter, 29, who is from McDonough, was sentenced to three years in prison followed by two years of supervised release on June 5, 2024. Carter was convicted of conspiracy to make false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer after pleading guilty on Jan. 23, 2024.
Jamal Plunkett, 36, of Snellville, was sentenced in a separate case on October 10, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones. He is currently serving a sentence of four years and three months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Plunkett was convicted of possession of a stolen firearm after pleading guilty on May 19, 2023.
For further information, please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.