A member of a south Seattle street gang, Samuel N. Rezene, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for illegal firearm possession. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced the sentence.
Rezene has a long criminal record that includes drug trafficking, promoting prostitution, and firearms offenses. He has also been the target of multiple shootings, including an incident in February 2012 when his then girlfriend was killed while riding in a car he was driving.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart commented, “As far as I can tell, this defendant wants to be taken out of society…. You don’t get a Glock 9 to protect yourself, you get that to be back in the trade.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Miller stated: “Less than three months after his release from a 92-month prison sentence, Mr. Rezene again had a firearm, drove dangerously, crashed his car in a high crime area, and fled from police. The only thing that stops his criminal conduct is time behind prison bars. This sentence is necessary for community safety.”
According to court records, Rezene was on federal supervised release when he crashed his parents’ car on Aurora Avenue North and left the scene with a firearm inside the vehicle. He was arrested and indicted for unlawful possession of a firearm and pleaded guilty on May 30, 2025.
DNA evidence linked Rezene to the pistol found in the crashed car. Ballistics analysis connected the gun to four previous shooting incidents before his release from federal prison for a May 2017 conviction. The weapon was also tied to a September 3, 2023 homicide in Seattle’s Holly Park neighborhood weeks after Rezene’s release.
Rezene’s history with gun violence dates back more than a decade. In both 2011 and 2013 he participated with associates in drug robberies targeting rival gangs; these actions resulted in retaliatory drive-by shootings against him and his property. His associates responded by attacking businesses connected to rival gangs.
On May 15, 2014 Rezene was shot several times at a Renton gas station but survived after returning fire; no suspect has been identified in that shooting. After recovering from those injuries, law enforcement observed him firing at another business associated with rival gangs later that year.
He received state and federal sentences for related firearms offenses—31 months from state authorities followed by a federal conviction in May 2017 that led to a 92-month prison term.
Rezene’s prior felony convictions prohibit him from possessing firearms.
Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg wrote to the court: “The federal firearms statutes exist for the purpose of keeping firearms out of the hands of people like Samuel Rezene. Rezene has lived a reckless and dangerous lifestyle as a gang member and drug dealer. His commission of two drug robberies set off a violent chain of events that ultimately led to him being shot at the Shell station in 2014.”
The Seattle Police Department investigated this case with assistance from the FBI; Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg prosecuted it.
