19-Year-Old Sentenced For Drug Trafficking Involvement, Owning Machine Gun

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A 19-year-old Greenbelt man has been sentenced to federal prison followed by supervised release for federal charges stemming from his involvement in drug trafficking and illegally owning a machine gun.

According to Donald Fortune, Jr.'s guilty plea, law enforcement began investigating him in April 2022 for suspected firearms and drug trafficking involvement. Prince George's Police Detectives detectives monitored public posts from Fortune’s social media account where he listed firearms and advertised drugs for sale. Based on their investigation, including the social media posts, a search warrant was obtained for Fortune’s apartment.

On June 2, 2022, law enforcement was conducting surveillance outside Fortune’s apartment building before executing the warrant. In the late morning, Fortune left the building and approached a silver Honda Civic. He removed a large bag of blue pills, suspected to be oxycodone, from a Gucci satchel that he was wearing and engaged in a suspected hand-to-hand drug transaction with the driver of the Civic. Fortune then placed the pills back in the Gucci satchel and returned to his apartment, according to his guilty plea.

According to court documents, a short time later, Fortune, still wearing the Gucci satchel, left the apartment building with a woman. They both got into a rideshare and drove off. PGPD police conducted a traffic stop of the ride-share vehicle 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 sitting.

The gun, which had its serial number removed, 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 revealed a large bag containing 282 30 milligram blue pills, later found to be counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. Officers also recovered $790 in cash from Fortune, according to court documents.

Fortune was arrested and charged in Prince George’s County. He was released June 14, 2022, pending trial. Fortune admitted 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, believed by investigators to be an effort to evade law enforcement. Investigators began monitoring this account and Fortune continued to advertise pills for sale and display firearms, despite being on pretrial release, officials said.

On July 26, 2022, investigators saw a public-facing live video that was streaming from Fortune’s second social media account, which showed Fortune smoking a suspected marijuana cigarette, flashing two prescription bottles and holding an AR-style pistol. Fortune then turned the camera around to show a table display of at least six firearms, including two AR-style pistols, one handgun with an extended magazine, and one handgun with a suspected full-automatic switch, with cash fanned out in front of the firearms, court documents disclosed.

As detailed in the plea agreement, on the night of July 26, 2022, 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 pickup truck, crouch down and throw an item on the ground before walking away. 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, officials stated.

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 5 milligrams of oxycodone each and the rest were found to be counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl, court documents stated.

Fortune has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for federal charges of 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.