Man found with CHP officer’s stolen gun gets five years in prison
OAKLAND — A 28-year-old man who had been caught with a California Highway Patrol officer’s stolen gun in his bedroom was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison on Monday.
Demetrius Sneed, of Oakland, was found with the stolen gun while on parole and probation for shooting his close friend in the shoulder. He was arrested in January and indicted in February on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The gun was reported stolen in 2012, according to court records.
A CHP spokesman did not immediately respond to media requests for a description of the theft and the name of the officer whose gun was stolen. In sentencing memos, prosecutors describe Sneed’s arrest and prior crimes but don’t explain how the gun was stolen.
Three years ago, Bay Area News Group published an investigative series that found nearly 1,000 guns had been stolen from California police officers over the prior six years.
The events leading to Sneeds arrest in this case started in 2013, when he was charged with attempted murder, after he shot a close friend. According to federal prosecutors, Sneed and his friend were at a store, and Sneed attempted to confront people for staring at him, but his friend intervened. This reportedly angered Sneed enough that he plotted a violent revenge.
Hours later, Sneed arranged to meet his friend, and opened fire on him with a short-barreled rifle, striking him once. His friend fell to the ground and Sneed walked up to him, placed the gun to his head, and said, “I want you to know who is killing you,” according to prosecutors. At the last instant, his victim grabbed the gun and jolted it, causing the bullet to strike him in the shoulder instead.
Sneed was originally charged with attempted murder, but pled to an assault charge. In 2017, after his release from prison, he was suspected in another shooting case, prosecutors said.
“(Sneed) does not seem to have gotten the message to stop possessing loaded firearms,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo, which asked for the 63-month sentence.
In a corresponding sentencing memo, Sneed’s attorney wrote that his client was an “atypical” young man who was raised in foster care from a young age, yet managed to obtain a basketball scholarship and attend college in Oregon.
His attorney also wrote that Sneed likely suffered brain damaged from chronic marijuana use that started in his early teens. He asked Sneed be sentenced to around 48 months, adding that he needed rehabilitation programs, not incarceration.
Sneed’s girlfriend, Alicia Key, wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency.
“The Demetrius that I know is Charming, Funny, Caring, Attentive, Resilient, Forgiving and Understanding,” she wrote.
Sneed’s sentencing order directs the Bureau of Prisons to house him in a facility as close to the Bay Area as possible, so that he can have family visits.