Feds accuse Austell man of leading an international arms trafficking scheme

Federal officials have accused an Austell man, Dexter Wellington Roberts III, of masterminding an illicit arms trafficking operation that spanned North America. Roberts, 43, is one of five individuals facing charges in connection with the conspiracy, which involved the acquisition of a significant number of firearms in the southeastern United States for resale to customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

According to Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, the scheme was initiated in mid-December 2022 when Roberts allegedly conspired with a Canadian citizen to launch the operation. Buchanan revealed that between December 2022 and February 2023, Roberts personally made retail purchases of at least 49 firearms. In January 2023, Grevaughn Goodman, 23, from Homestead, Florida, reportedly began procuring firearms for the conspiracy, acquiring more than 50 guns from January through April 2023.

Tranquilo Goodman, 24, brother of Grevaughn Goodman, is alleged to have joined the conspiracy by March 2023, purchasing at least 11 firearms that month. Shavonte Summers, 22, of Homestead, Florida, is said to have become involved in the conspiracy by May 2023, purchasing over 50 firearms in May and June 2023. Demetrius Randolph is alleged to have joined the conspiracy in June 2023, acquiring at least 10 guns over two days from five different licensed firearms dealers.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers conducted four bulk seizures of firearms, totaling over 120 weapons, including a cache of 47 firearms seized from Roberts in Henry County, Georgia. Buchanan reported that law enforcement also confiscated numerous other weapons allegedly purchased by the defendants throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

The Goodman brothers, Summers, and Randolph have been arraigned on federal charges of conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license. Grevaughn Goodman was additionally arraigned on a charge of firearms trafficking conspiracy, violating a new statute passed by Congress in June 2022. Roberts, who is currently in a Bahamian jail after being arrested in mid-October on a separate weapons charge, faces charges of conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license, dealing in firearms without a license, firearms trafficking conspiracy, and smuggling once he is in US custody.

The federal grand jury indicted the five conspirators, Roberts, Grevaughn Goodman, Summers, Tranquilo Goodman, and Randolph, on October 24, 2023. Ryan Buchanan emphasized the gravity of illegally purchasing firearms on behalf of others, stating that it is a serious crime that often places guns in the hands of individuals prohibited from possessing them. He also noted that many of the firearms traced to the defendants in this case were recovered from criminals in Canada.