Diamond Topaz Brown was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Roanoke to 10 years in federal prison on firearms charges, United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen announced.
According to court documents, Brown, 29, is a seven-time convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing a firearm. In the late hours of Sept. 19 and the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2018, members of the Roanoke Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives observed Brown outside of a business on Williamson Road in Roanoke. They were looking for Brown in an attempt to arrest her on three outstanding felony extortion warrants based upon violent threats she was alleged to have made in the days prior.
Officers observed Brown remove a handgun from a vehicle associated with Brown, place it under her shirt, and move it to another vehicle in the parking lot. Brown hid the firearm under the driver’s seat of the second car. A subsequent search of the second vehicle revealed a Taurus, 9mm, semi-automatic pistol.
The gun was loaded with an extended magazine holding 29 rounds of ammunition.
Surveillance video from the business confirmed that Brown had, in fact, transferred the pistol from one of the vehicles to another.