Roanoke Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Firearm Charge

ROANOKE, VIRGINIA – A Roanoke man, who was previously convicted of a crime and therefore prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm, pled guilty last week to a federal firearms charge, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today.

Jon Phillip Dumire, 23, of Roanoke, pled guilty last Friday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke to one count of being a previously convicted felon illegally in possession of a firearm.

“Keeping firearms out of the hands of prohibited users is the first step in making our communities less violent,” Untied States Attorney Fishwick said today. “If our friends and neighbors are going to feel safe in our neighborhoods they must know that law enforcement is working to ensure that illegal guns are being taken off the streets.”

According to evidence presented during a guilty plea hearing in District Court last week, in the early morning hours of December 27, 2014, while at a house party on Stewart Avenue, SE in Roanoke, and thereafter, Dumire was armed with two guns, a small silver. 25 caliber pistol with a white handle and a .380 caliber pistol. Dumire was seen holding these guns and wearing them on his hips throughout the events that morning at the party, after the party and inside and outside his residence.

The case was brought following an investigation by the Central Virginia Violent Crime Safe Streets Task Force [Roanoke Violent Crime Task Force], a joint state-federal task force formed in January 2016 led by the FBI that includes the Virginia State Police, Roanoke City Police and Roanoke County Police. While not an official member of the task force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is routinely involved in the work of the task force and was crucial in the Dumire investigation.  The case was prosecuted for the United States by United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. and Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Bubar.