Violent Boston Gang Member Who Posed With Firearms on Snapchat Sentenced to More Than Six Years in Prison

BOSTON – A Boston-area man was sentenced on Friday, June 7, 2024 for illegally possessing a firearm while under house arrest for three state firearm charges.

Trevon Bell, 27, of Boston and Lynn, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 78 months in prison, and three years of supervised release. Bell pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in November 2023. 

As part of a 2021 investigation into a violent Boston gang, law enforcement intercepted a Snapchat “chat” comprised of individuals who regularly displayed images of themselves in possession of firearms. 

One of the individuals identified in the chat was Bell – a member of the violent Boston-based Heath Street gang. Bell had been indicted on three separate unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition cases in state court for which he was released on home detention with location monitoring via GPS bracelet. However, the investigation revealed that, while on state pre-trial release, Bell had posted numerous videos of himself in possession of firearms to Snapchat, including a Nov. 24, 2021 video that showed him in possession of a black semi-automatic Glock 9 millimeter firearm. The firearm has since been recovered: 

    
The operation was conducted is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Division; and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division made the announcement. Special assistance in the investigation was provided by the Boston, Quincy and Lynn Police Departments and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Pohl of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.