Gang Member Gets 10 Years In Prison Following Firearms Plea

A Tampa gang member has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison for possessing a loaded firearm as a convicted felon.

The court also ordered defendant Demetrius Lamar Rahmings, 28, Tampa, to forfeit a Taurus G2C 9mm Pistol and 19 rounds of 9mm ammunition traceable to the offense.

Rahmings had been found guilty on May 30, 2023, following a bench trial.

According to court documents, on October 8, 2020, Rahmings was wanted on several outstanding warrants for violent crime charges in state court. Deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Apprehension Unit and officers from the Tampa Police Department were monitoring a residence in Tampa that was known to be frequented by Rahmings’s associates.

Law enforcement officers observed Rahmings at that residence and when they approached him, he fled on foot into the home. The officers pursued him into the residence, and once inside, Rahmings dropped a bookbag in the hallway and then hid in a bedroom. Rahmings was taken into custody. The officers recovered a Taurus 9mm firearm with an extended magazine loaded with 19 rounds of ammunition, plastic baggies, a digital scale, and an orange ski mask from the backpack.

At the time of this offense, Rahmings had previously been convicted in state court in Florida of multiple felonies, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon (2013); aggravated assault with weapon (2013); aggravated battery (2013); possession of a firearm as a felon (2019); and fleeing to elude law enforcement (2019).

As a convicted felon, Rahmings is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law. Rahmings had recently been released from Florida Department of Corrections on February 5, 2020.

This case was investigated by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Tampa Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Apprehension Unit. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shauna S. Hale.