Chester man gets 5-10 as ‘straw’ gun purchaser

MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Chester man was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison Monday under a mandatory minimum sentence after pleading guilty to making six straw purchases of firearms.

Kenneth Jackson, 46, of the 900 block of Macadam Street, apologized to Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Alice Brennan during his plea and sentencing hearing. He had previously told investigators his crimes were “not worth it,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Jackson was arrested in October following an investigation by county Detective David Tyler of the Gun Trafficking Unit and Josh Nugent, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Jackson purchased a 9 mm Taurus handgun from Targetmaster in Chadds Ford on Oct. 10, according to an affidavit of probable cause. He had purchased six other handguns from that same location since September 2013 and one from Philadelphia Training Academy, according to the affidavit. Three of those firearms had been recovered by authorities between 2014 and 2016, but none had been reported stolen, the affidavit states.

Tyler and Nugent interviewed Jackson Oct. 27 in reference to the firearm purchased Oct. 10 and he stated that it had been stolen along with another gun, according to the affidavit. He initially claimed not to have purchased any other firearms, but became nervous and claimed the other six guns must also have also been stolen when presented with paperwork for those sales, the affidavit states.

When Tyler went through the paperwork with Jackson for each of the firearms, he allegedly admitted to buying six firearms for two people he believed could not buy the guns themselves in exchange for small amounts of money.

Jackson said that he was wrong for buying the guns for people he knew had previously been locked up, according to the affidavit, and that he only made the buys because he was “down on his luck” and needed cash for food and rent. Jackson also allegedly told investigators that the approximately $1,100 he received for the

gun purchases was “not worth it.”

The Brad Fox Law imposes a five-year minimum mandatory state prison sentence for defendants convicted on a second or subsequent straw buying offense.

Under the negotiated guilty plea worked out by Deputy District Attorney George Dawson and defense counsel Charles Williams, three third-degree felony counts of firearm ownership, duty of other persons were consolidated for a sentence of one to two years. Three other counts of the same charge as a felony in the second degree were consolidated for a sentence of five to 10 years, running concurrently.

Williams said his client intends to learn all that he can while incarcerated to become a productive member of society upon his release.