Gun-selling Seattle gangster: ‘There’s really a war going on’ Crackdown meant to stop shootings means hard time for foster father

Investigators recovered this AK-47-style rifle from the bedroom closet of a Seattle home occupied by Devontea Rosemon. Rosemon, 25, faces years in federal prison for gun and drug crimes. Investigators recovered this AK-47-style rifle from the bedroom closet of a Seattle home occupied by Devontea Rosemon. Rosemon, 25, faces years in federal prison for gun and drug crimes. Photo: Department Of Justice Photo: Department Of Justice Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Gun-selling Seattle gangster: ‘There’s really a war going on’ 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A Seattle man caught selling assault rifles and cocaine during an anti-gang crackdown will soon learn the cost of those crimes.

Devontea Rosemon spent much of his teens in juvenile detention for gang-related robberies. Now he is headed to federal prison for selling high-power firearms and cocaine out of an apartment that was also home to two young girls.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik sentenced Rosemon to nine years in prison. In a statement issued following Rosemon's sentencing, U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes described him as "a one stop shop for multiple firearms, including high powered assault style weapons."

Rosemon, now 25, arrived in Seattle from Portland at age 6. He never knew his father – he is uncertain who the man is – and was raised in a chaotic, drug-infused environment. He briefly attended Lincoln High School before dropping out during the 10th grade and has been enmeshed in crime since.

Investigators describe Rosemon as a member of the West Side Street Mobb, a West Seattle-based street gang active in the area for more than a decade. Much of the gang’s leadership was imprisoned following a 2008 human trafficking investigation sparked by a still-unsolved slaying. In court papers, Rosemon said he joined the gang as a child.

“I took a lot of ass whippings from my older sisters’ friends who were in the Street Mobb in order to toughen me up,” Rosemon said. “Eventually, I got jumped in.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg described Rosemon as “a notorious gang member and armed drug dealer” who labeled himself as “heady” – someone who aims for the head when shooting at a rival.

“Although there are a number of (all too common) factors in the defendant’s background that led him to this place, Devontea Rosemon was a longtime gang member, a drug dealer, a trafficker of dangerous firearms, and a violent offender,” wrote Greenberg in court papers, opining in the parenthetical.

Rosemon was arrested during a law enforcement push targeting criminals dealing drugs while possessing or selling firearms. Police hoped to end a spate of shootings that appeared to be related to conflicts in the small-scale, low-dollar drug trade.

Rosemon was hardly a drug lord – the sting operation saw him sell seven ounces of cocaine to police – but he was armed during each of the deals set up by police. He explained to an informant that he carried a gun for protection.

“I told you, there’s really a war going on,” Rosemon told the police informant.

Later, speaking with an undercover agent, Rosemon explained that gangsters like himself were passing guns around even after they’d been used in shootings. Criminals usually try to avoid carrying crime guns because they could be tied to a shooting if they’re caught with the weapon.

“I really don’t even be worried about it,” Rosemon told the undercover agent. “We just use them and pass them around to each other.”

During one cocaine sale, Rosemon showed an informant a .45-caliber Ruger pistol. He said he bought the gun for $600.

By the time he was arrested on June 17, Rosemon had sold nine guns to investigators, including two AK-47-style assault rifles. Investigators found a third assault rifle, one equipped with a 100-round drum magazine, in his bedroom closet.

“The defendant possessed this military-type assault rifle in his home, where he was the primary caretaker of two young girls who could have gained access to this weapon,” a probation official said in court papers.

In a letter to the court, Rosemon explained that he was caring for the girls after having other relatives taken into foster care.

Rosemon served four years in juvenile detention for a pair of violent robberies. He was released in 2013, returning home to find those he loved addicted to heroin.

“If I thought my life was bad before this only made matters (worse) for me, watching my only family sit and pass foil smoking heroin together,” Rosemon said in the letter.

“I’ve made some mistakes in my life. That I take full responsibility for,” he continued in his letter to Lasnik. “I promise that I will not blow the (opportunity) to prove you what type of man I am and want to become.”

According to his attorney, Rosemon was a foster parent to two of his young relatives for more than a year.

Rosemon remains jailed, as does his codefendant, Bobby Collins, who is expected to be sentenced later in March for drug crimes.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.