19-Year-Old Pleads Guilty To Machine Gun, Drug Charges: Prince George's County Prosecutor

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A 19-year-0ld Greenbelt man has pleaded guilty to federal charges for illegal possession of a machine gun, possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and fentanyl, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Authorities began investigating Donald Fortune Jr., in April 2022 for suspected firearms and drug trafficking offenses. As part of the investigation, Prince George's County police detectives monitored public posts from Fortune’s social media account where he posted firearms and advertised drugs for sale.

On June 2, 2022, law enforcement was conducting surveillance outside Fortune’s apartment building in preparation for executing the warrant. In the late morning, Fortune was seen walking up to a silver Honda Civic, and he removed a large bag of blue pills, suspected to be oxycodone, from a Gucci bag that he carried. According to court documents, Fortune was part of a hand-to-hand drug transaction with the driver of the Civic.

A short time later, Fortune left the apartment building accompanied by a woman. He was wearing the Gucci satchel across his chest and had his right hand in the satchel as he walked, consistent with having a firearm inside the satchel, authorities said. Fortune and the woman got into a rideshare and the vehicle drove away.

Police conducted a traffic stop a short time later and saw Fortune reach down toward his feet. Officers asked Fortune, who was still wearing the Gucci satchel, to step out of the vehicle and officers saw a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol on the floorboard where Fortune had been seated. The gun was loaded with one round in the chamber and 21 rounds in an extended magazine and was equipped with a full auto selector switch on the rear of the handgun slide, making it a machine gun under federal law.

A search of the Gucci satchel recovered a large bag containing 232 30mg blue pills, later found to be counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. Officers also recovered $790 in cash from Fortune.

He was arrested and charged in Prince George’s County. He was held for 12 days before being released on June 14, 2022, pending trial.

Fortune admitted to authorities that he continued to sell drugs and possess firearms after his release, including coordinating a drug deal around a court appearance. Fortune switched to using a second social media account in mid-July 2022, which investigators stated they thought was to evade law enforcement. Investigators began monitoring this account, where Fortune continued to advertise pills for sale and display firearms, despite being on pretrial release.

As detailed in the plea agreement, that evening, PGPD officers were on patrol in the 6400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in District Heights and saw Fortune smoking marijuana on the sidewalk in front of a residence. As the officer was parking his car in the parking lot, he saw Fortune walk behind a pick-up truck and throw an item under the truck, then walk away from the area.

Believing Fortune had discarded a firearm or contraband, the officer got out of his unmarked police cruiser to speak with Fortune, who continued to walk away. As the officer got closer, Fortune began running and was apprehended a short distance away. Another officer arrived and stayed by the location where Fortune had been seen throwing something.

A search of the area recovered a privately manufactured 5.56 caliber semi-automatic AR-15 style pistol with no serial number, also known as a “ghost gun.” The gun was loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition in the magazine and one in the chamber. Officers searched Fortune and recovered two pill bottles containing 16 real or counterfeit oxycodone pills. The pills were tested and eight were found to contain approximately 5mg of oxycodone each and the rest were found to be counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl.

If the court accepts the plea agreement, Fortune will be sentenced to between seven years and 10 years in federal prison.