14 arrested in multi-county gun-trafficking ring
District Attorney: 31 firearms were illegally obtained and resold
NORRISTOWN » Montgomery County authorities dismantled a gun-trafficking organization involving more than a dozen individuals who are accused of illegally obtaining and reselling 31 firearms during straw purchase schemes in a five-county area.
“This is one of the huge growing problems that we are facing in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It’s a problem because it puts guns in the hands of people that are not allowed by law to buy their own guns. That’s a straw purchase. It’s illegal and it’s dangerous,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said on Wednesday.
The gun-trafficking network, which operated in Montgomery,
Berks, Bucks, Lancaster and Philadelphia counties, also dealt in the sale of so-called “ghost guns,” authorities alleged.
“Straw purchases and the sale of those guns to people who cannot buy their own firearm legally are dangerous to the safety of all of our communities, and ‘ghost guns’ are just as dangerous, if not more. Gun trafficking is a significant threat to public safety and should concern every law-abiding citizen,” Steele said.
Steele was joined at a news briefing on Wednesday by Montgomery Township Police Chief Scott Bendig, Plymouth Township Police Chief John C. Myrsiades and Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Joseph Altieri to announce the arrests of 14 men and women on multiple charges related to the alleged straw purchases and the illegal transfer of firearms.
With the charges, authorities alleged Quinn O’Donnell Whisted, 22, of the 3000 block of Runnymede Drive, Plymouth Meeting, purchased 17 firearms; Maliqa Deja Jack, 25, of the 400 block of Chestnut Street, Pottstown, purchased seven firearms; Makayla Prince, 22, of the first block of Monroe Street, Mohnton, Berks County, purchased four firearms; and Deborah Chappell, 61, of the 800 block of East High Street, Pottstown, who purchased one firearm.
Those firearms, authorities alleged, were purchased on behalf of the gun trafficking organization led by Alexander Aaron Smith, 20, of the 3000 block of Jolly Road, Plymouth Meeting; Daveese Smith, 22, of the 800 block of Smith Street, Norristown; and Tony Pearson, 40, of the 700 block of Chain Street,
Norristown.
Also charged in connection with the alleged corrupt organization were: Taye Maurice Wynder, 20, of the 500 block of Walnut Street, Pottstown; Daeshaun Wynder, 22, and Jerome Wynder, 24, both of the 800 block of East High Street, Pottstown; Tymir Kaseim Allen, 22, of Philadelphia; Joseph Zummo, 26, of the 600 block of West Airy Street, Norristown; Kristen Leigh Owens, 24, of the 4000 block of School House Lane, Plymouth Meeting; and Talani Janelle Ewell, 20, of New Castle, Del.
All 14 defendants, who are awaiting preliminary hearings, face various charges including corrupt organizations and conspiracy. Other charges filed against some of the defendants include dealing in proceeds of
unlawful activities, unlawful transfer of a firearm, criminal use of communications facilities and false statements.
“These 14 defendants bought firearms and sold them to whoever had the money and armed criminals,” Steele alleged. “Some of these members of this gun trafficking organization accompanied, actually went with the straw purchasers to the gun stores and helped choose the weapons that they were looking to buy.”
A straw purchase occurs when a person with a clean background purchases firearms on behalf of another person to conceal the true ownership of the firearm. Those who are unable to legally purchase firearms include convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, juveniles and mentally ill individuals.
The arrests represented the fourth gun trafficking network that county authorities dismantled since September 2020. Steele said the current investigation was an outgrowth of the September investigation when nine adults and five juveniles were charged with running a separate gun trafficking network.
Detectives from the county’s Violent Crime Unit began tracking the multiple alleged purchases of firearms by Whisted through the state’s Electronic Record of Sale (EROS) system and by reviewing state and federal gun purchase paperwork at gun stores. Detectives also used surveillance, interviews, information from law enforcement agencies, cell phone data and social media analysis to identify the suspects, according to court papers.
“One illegal purchasing spree conducted by members of this organization yielded nine handguns in eight days,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Montgomery County Detective Jeffrey Koch, Montgomery Township Detective Todd Walter and state police Trooper Brian Kedra. “The purpose of this corrupt organization was to illegally obtain and distribute numerous firearms to others.
“This organization not only used straw purchases to achieve this, but also utilized ‘Ghost Guns’ to accomplish this objective,” detectives alleged, referring to firearm assembly kits that can be purchased on the internet. Such firearms are self-assembled and lack traceability because they don’t have serial numbers, authorities said. A number of states have made ghost guns illegal, including New Jersey, although they are still legal in Pennsylvania.
“They are very dangerous to the safety of our community,” Steele said.
Only seven weapons have been recovered, including one firearm recovered on Jan. 7 during an investigation of a home invasion robbery in Philadelphia, according to authorities.
“The other firearms are still in the wind. We don’t know where they are and that’s the dangerousness of straw purchases,” Steele said.
Steele urged anyone who has information about the whereabouts of the weapons to contact authorities.
“Our law enforcement community takes gun trafficking very seriously and getting those guns back and off of the streets is a priority, because we need to make our community safer,” Steele said.
The investigation was led by the Montgomery County
Detective Bureau’s Violent Crime Unit, Montgomery Township Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police and the Plymouth Township Police Department along with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Norristown Police Department, FBI, Bucks and Montgomery County Safe Streets Task Force, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force, Pottstown Police Department, Hatfield Township Police Department and Berks County Detectives.