WASHINGTON – Tavon Valentine Lee, a 29-year-old resident of the District of Columbia, was sentenced to 60 months in prison today for his possession of a loaded firearm during a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court, where Lee also received three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term.
Lee pleaded guilty on January 30, 2026, to one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. The case stemmed from an FBI investigation that began in the summer of 2024, which uncovered a large-scale cocaine distribution network operating across the District, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.
According to court documents, Lee was involved in distributing gram quantities of cocaine obtained from co-defendant Marcus Devonta Williams in the D.C. area. Williams was connected to a larger operation that received multi-kilogram shipments from co-defendant Daryl Smith-Winfree, who was observed meeting with Williams in Wilmington, Delaware, in March 2025. During a subsequent meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, investigators witnessed Lee discard a brown paper bag containing drug paraphernalia into a trash can before being apprehended shortly thereafter in his Mercedes SUV.
Law enforcement recovered approximately 257 grams of cocaine, about 65 pills suspected to be counterfeit oxycodone, and a loaded Glock 23 handgun with an extended magazine from Lee’s vehicle. Co-defendant Smith-Winfree was sentenced to 96 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, while co-defendant Williams received a 70-month sentence after similar charges.
The investigation involved collaboration among several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local police departments from Montgomery County, Howard County, and Arlington County. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael L. Barclay, Daniel Seidel, and Anthony Scarpelli led the prosecution in this case.
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