Two D.C. Felons Sentenced After Guns in YouTube and Instagram Videos Drew Police Attention
Investigators began watching music videos and livestreams in 2023 and later seized guns, including pistols converted to machine guns, prosecutors said.
Two men with prior felony convictions have been sentenced to federal prison after an investigation that began when police noticed real guns in music videos and livestreams they posted online, prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said.
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan sentenced Travis Foster, 25, to 57 months and Reginald Monroe, 23, to 46 months, each followed by three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced on Oct. 22, 2026.
Both men pleaded guilty in July before Judge AliKhan. Foster admitted unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to distribute marijuana; Monroe admitted unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
What investigators saw online
Law enforcement began monitoring social media in 2023 after seeing Foster and associates in high-resolution music videos and posts with guns fitted with extended magazines, according to court documents described by the office. Investigators recognized the guns as real and noted “micro draco” pistols that can fire rifle rounds, prosecutors said.
A nightclub, a parking garage and two cars
On Oct. 19, 2023, officers followed Foster, Monroe and others from a dinner to a nightclub in Northwest Washington, then to a nearby parking garage, prosecutors said. There, officers found 842 suspected fentanyl pills and several guns in a stolen Audi Q7, and six more guns in a Chrysler 300.
Prescription paperwork in a backpack in the Chrysler tied Foster to some of the guns, according to the office. Surveillance video showed Monroe getting out of the Chrysler, and DNA later linked him to a Glock pistol found in the Audi and another found in the Chrysler, prosecutors said.
Investigators later recovered Instagram voice messages in which Foster called the seized guns his and talked about replacing them, the office said. A search of his home turned up a loaded pistol with an extended magazine, more than a pound of marijuana and a money counter.
Prior convictions
Foster had previously pleaded guilty to an October 2019 armed robbery of a car and was sentenced to 96 months; he committed this offense three months after his release on July 14, 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Monroe had two pistols modified to fire as machine guns, each with a 22-round magazine, and this was his fourth conviction for illegally possessing a gun in six years, prosecutors said. Monroe is also awaiting sentencing in a D.C. Superior Court armed robbery case.
Federal law makes it illegal for anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison to possess a firearm or ammunition, under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
The ATF, the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case.
