April 27, 2026 – SACRAMENTO, CA – Jerrell Lawson, 35, of Sacramento, was sentenced last Thursday by U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta to 17 years and five months in prison for his convictions for conspiracy to unlawfully deal in firearms, unlawfully dealing 
in firearms, transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident, unlawful mailing of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.
According to court documents, between November 2019 and March 2022, Lawson arranged to buy more than 500 firearms in Georgia and ship them into California, where his sub-distributors sold them on the streets. In total, Lawson and his co-conspirators paid more than $300,000 to purchase those firearms. Lawson would broker firearms transactions in Georgia over the internet, and co-defendant Malek Williams, a Georgia resident with a license to carry a concealed firearm, would pick up firearms in person and mail the firearms to various locations in California at Lawson’s direction. Some of the firearms went to individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions. Some of the guns were also particularly dangerous: machine guns and guns with “drums” designed to hold dozens of rounds of ammunition.
The investigation began when a firearm used in a violent shooting in California was traced to Georgia, then to Lawson’s organization. Law enforcement learned Lawson and his co-conspirators used coded language to traffic firearms and moved money using a variety of financial institutions. During the investigation, interdicted packages destined for Lawson and other co-conspirators were found to contain firearms, ammunition, knives, and brass knuckles, among other things.
In August 2023, a grand jury charged Lawson and nine co-defendants with various firearms offenses relating to this interstate firearm dealing ring. All of Lawson’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region Cross-Jurisdictional Firearms Trafficking Strike Force Initiative and a number of other state, local, and federal agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Pearson and Justin Lee are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Sacramento is composed of agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Source: DOJ Release
