Project Guardian nets two guilty pleas in Macon firearms cases

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Two Macon firearms traffickers enter guilty pleas before a federal judge in Project Guardian investigations.

Project Guardian is the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.

Keon Hendley, 35, of Macon entered a guilty plea to one count possession of a firearm and one count possession of cocaine.

In 2019, undercover agents negotiated the purchase of firearms from Hendley, a convicted felon, on four separate occasions. During the operation, agents received 23 firearms, meth and cocaine from Hendley.

A sentencing date for Hendley has not been scheduled.

“ATF is committed to working with our local, state, and federal partners to investigate, arrest and prosecute those individuals who use, or unlawfully enable others to use, firearms in the commission of violent crimes,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brent Quinn. “Project Guardian is directly in line with ATF’s core mission and we are proud to be a part of it.”

In a separate case, Donta Booze, 39, of Macon was sentenced to 63 months. Bibb County deputies arrested Booze in April 2018, after Booze threw a stolen firearm out of the vehicle when deputies tried to stop him for speeding and an improper tag.