WASHINGTON — A teenager who was already ordered into a secure juvenile facility until his 21st birthday was transferred into adult lockup at the D.C. Jail on Thursday for his alleged role in a conspiracy to traffic nearly three dozen stolen firearms into the District.
Cy’Juan Hemsley, 18, was ordered detained pending trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey. Hemsley’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, had sought for him to be returned to New Beginnings – the city’s secure facility for male juvenile offenders. However, Harvey said he wasn’t willing to release Hemsley to a local facility where he could be released early without the judge’s input considering the evidence against him.
“I believe it shows you represent a real and present danger to the community,” Harvey said.
Federal agents arrested Hemsley in March at New Beginnings after he was indicted as part of a group accused of stealing 34 guns from the A&D Pawn Shop in Glen Burnie, Maryland, in December.
Hemsley and four other defendants -- Tyjuan McNeal, 27, Vincent Lee Alston, 22, Juwon Markel Anderson, 21, and Niquan Odumn, 22, all of D.C. – face a slew of felony charges, including conspiracy to commit firearm trafficking, conspiracy to commit theft from a federal firearms licensee, unlawful possession of stolen firearms and interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle. Alston and Anderson were arrested in December and ordered held without bond. McNeal and Odumn were arrested last month and conceded to detention.
According to charging documents and a detention memo filed by federal prosecutors, Hemsley and his co-defendants used a portable saw to cut locks and then a crowbar to pry open the entrance to the A&D Pawn Shop on Dec. 13. Then group then allegedly stole 34 guns: six rifles, 27 pistols and one 12-gauge shotgun.
Approximately 30 minutes later, a Hyundai Sonata – also stolen out of Prince George’s County – was reported to have crashed on I-295 southbound at the Kenilworth Avenue exit in D.C. Inside the Sonata, police found eight of the stolen firearms along with two cellphones that had, investigators say, been left behind when the group fled the scene of the crash. Through the phones, investigators were able to find contact information and CashApp and Instagram accounts that reportedly identified the suspects and, in Hemsley’s case, appeared to show him wearing the same clothing that one of the pawn shop burglars can be seen wearing in security footage.
According to the detention memo, Cell Site evidence also shows Hemsley’s phone at the approximate location of the theft of the Sonata the evening before the pawn shop burglary, at the site of the burglary and at the site of the crash after the burglary.
Seven hours after the robbery, investigators say Hemsley sent an Instagram message telling an unidentified contact he had gotten them “a missile” accompanied by a video of two pistols that appear to be of the same models stolen from the pawn shop.
A search warrant served on Hemsley’s residence in Prince George’s County on Jan. 15 reportedly turned up three Glock handgun cases traced to a separate firearms burglary in Maryland in late December. Prosecutors said 18 of the stolen guns have been recovered, including four found inside the drywall of a residence on Savannah Street SE in D.C., but that 19 remain unaccounted for.
Although the charges that resulted in Hemsley being committed to New Beginnings are sealed as part of his juvenile record, prosecutors said Thursday his criminal history shows he is “becoming more dangerous.” Harvey suggested he agreed, saying Hemsley’s juvenile record gave him concerns about his “history with violence, firearms and ability to stay out of trouble while on supervision.”
All five defendants were scheduled to appear for a status conference before U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson on June 14. If convicted of the most serious count against them, conspiracy to commit firearm trafficking, the defendants could face up to 15 years in prison.