A 27-year-old Stafford resident caught allegedly shoplifting at a Tysons Galleria store will go to prison, but not for the attempted theft.
Najee Lewis, who’s also known as “Bebo,” was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday (May 29) for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a previously convicted felon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Fairfax County police arrested Lewis on Dec. 3, 2023 after the loss prevention team at Saks Fifth Avenue (2051 International Drive) in Tysons Galleria reported seeing him “concealing store merchandise on his person and passing all points of sale to exit the store,” prosecutors said in a statement of facts for the U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
During the arrest, detectives found a Glock pistol on Lewis that had been “equipped with an extended magazine” and loaded with 22 rounds of ammunition, per the statement, which was signed on Jan. 19 by U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lipkowitz.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lewis was previously convicted on two felony robbery counts in Prince William County Circuit Court on Aug. 8, 2013. He was incarcerated until May 2018, when he was released from prison and began a 10-year term of supervised probation.
However, less than four months after his release, he was seen holding a stolen handgun in a music video posted on YouTube, prosecutors said. Virginia prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm or ammunition, and the possession violated the terms of Lewis’s supervised release.
Then 23, Lewis was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for firearm possession on Dec. 4, 2020. The gun seen in the music video had been reported stolen in April 2018 and was later recovered in October 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Lewis “knew” he was legally barred from having a gun due to his prior convictions when he was arrested in December.
“The firearm Lewis possessed was not manufactured in Virginia and therefore traveled in interstate commerce,” Aber and Lipkowitz wrote. That led federal prosecutors to take over the case.
Court documents indicate that Lewis signed a plea agreement on Feb. 21 confirming that the prosecution’s statement was “true and accurate,” and that that would’ve been proven in a trial if the case reached that point. A federal defense attorney who represented Lewis said they had no comment at this time.
The local charges against Lewis, including a misdemeanor for petit larceny, were dropped on Feb. 20, Fairfax County General District Court records show. Prior to this week’s sentencing, he had been released from custody on a personal recognizance bond after a bond hearing on Dec. 5.
