Man Pleads Guilty to 5 Firearm Felonies, 2 Misdemeanors After Flock Alert Led Police to Finding Him with Stolen Guns
NORFOLK, Va. — Ayshuan Treyvon Couther, 27, pleaded guilty in October to five firearm-related felonies and two misdemeanors after police found him, a convicted felon, earlier this year with two stolen firearms during their investigation of a shooting.
During their investigation of a shooting that happened in May, Norfolk Police detectives, with the help of the victim and the Flock license-plate reading system, identified a gray Honda Accord as a suspect vehicle and distributed a BOLO — an alert to “be on the lookout” — for the Accord. On May 26, Mr. Couther was on Dunkirk Avenue in that gray Accord when patrol officers recognized it from the BOLO. The officers pulled up to the Accord, activated their patrol car’s lights and siren, and announced that they were detaining Mr. Couther. Mr. Couther got out of the car and ran away, but the officers ran after him, caught him, and arrested him.
Investigators secured a search warrant for the Accord and, in their search, recovered a Glock pistol and Mr. Couther’s Virginia identification card from the center console as well as a Mini Draco AK-47 pistol from a backpack that had been left inside the vehicle. The Glock, which had been reported stolen out of Newport News, was equipped with an extended magazine and auto sear (also known as a Glock switch), the latter qualifying the firearm as a machine gun under Virginia law due to it enabling firearms to automatically shoot multiple rounds with a single trigger pull. The Draco had been reported stolen out of Virginia Beach. Mr. Couther has prior felony convictions which prohibit him from possessing firearms.
On Oct. 29, Mr. Couther entered an agreement to plead guilty to possessing a stolen firearm, possessing a trigger activator, possessing a machine gun, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, carrying a concealed firearm, and driving without a license. Mr. Couther’s plea agreement calls for him to face an active sentence of up to two years and two months in prison. In exchange for his guilty pleas, the Commonwealth agreed to withdraw an additional charge Mr. Couther was facing from this incident. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Couther’s plea agreement and set his sentencing hearing on Jan. 9, 2026.
“I commend the work of the Norfolk Police in finding and arresting Mr. Couther and taking two stolen and dangerous guns off of our streets,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “I also note the vital role that the Flock license-plate-reader system plays in helping solve crimes that would have otherwise been difficult or impossible to solve. Mr. Couther, having previously been convicted of felonies, should never have possessed any guns, let alone an automatic pistol, and we have held him accountable for his wrongful and dangerous actions.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Liane Galardi is prosecuting Mr. Couther’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Andrew J. Jowdy led the investigation.
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