Boston man sentenced after posting photos on Snapchat with gun

Authorities were investigating the gang in 2021 when they intercepted a group Snapchat chat in which Bell and others regularly shared photos of themselves posing with guns, prosecutors said.

At the time, Bell had been charged in state court in three separate cases with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and was released to home detention and required to wear a GPS bracelet, officials said. prosecutors. Investigators determined that while he was on pretrial release, Bell posted numerous videos of himself with guns on Snapchat.

The messages included a video from Nov. 24, 2021, showing Bell in possession of a black Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol, prosecutors said. The weapon has since been recovered.

Bell's attorney, Aviva E. Jeruchim, said in an email that his life, rife with hardship and loss, was “the stuff of a Dickensian novel.” She asked that he receive 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release in a sentencing memo she submitted to the court.

As a child growing up in Jamaica Plain, Bell was not close to his father, who was serving a lengthy prison sentence and struggling with substance use disorder, the memo said. His mother suffered from diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease throughout his childhood, and his uncle, who died in March at age 48, and grandmother helped raise him.

Bell faced violence in his community from a young age, which caused him to spiral out of control, and he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression during his first appointment at the Ministry of Youth Services. the memo said.

“Even though Mr. Bell lived in a vibrant and loving community of friends and family, the presence of gunfire, gang violence and poverty nonetheless provided a constant backdrop and rhythm to his daily life,” the memo says. “When Mr. Bell was twelve years old, his childhood best friend was shot and killed in his presence and his brother DeJontre was shot and suffered non-fatal injuries.”

Adam Sennott can be contacted at [email protected].