Accomplice: Gun trafficker recruited him to make straw purchases
NORRISTOWN » A Lower Pottsgrove man accused of running a gun trafficking network didn’t react as one of his alleged accomplices told a jury the man recruited and paid him to make so-called illegal “straw purchases.”
Michael Hill allegedly took Phillipe DeJohnette to two gun shows at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Upper Providence between February and March 2015 and paid DeJohnette to purchase a total of three firearms, including .45-caliber pistols, according to testimony.
“We browsed. If he liked the gun, he’d nod his head and that’s the gun I’d get,” DeJohnette testified Wednesday as Hill’s trial got underway in Montgomery County Court before Judge Garrett D. Page. “We proceeded to purchase firearms.”
When county Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood asked DeJohnette why he assisted Hill in illegally obtaining firearms DeJohnette replied, “I was going to get paid. I needed money. I didn’t go to school anymore. My mother was sick.”
Prosecutors alleged DeJohnette, who could legally purchase firearms, filled out the required state and federal paperwork indicating he was the purchaser even though the weapons were for Hill, who has a lengthy criminal record and was not permitted to possess firearms. DeJohnette, who admitted he lied on the government paperwork, also testified that Hill supplied the money to purchase the guns.
After purchasing two .45-caliber handguns at a Feb. 15, 2015, gun show Hill allowed DeJohnette to keep one of the firearms as payment, according to testimony.
Such criminal behavior is commonly referred to as “straw purchases.” Patrick Smith, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, explained to the jury that a straw purchase occurs when the buyer of a
firearm uses another person, a “straw purchaser,” to execute the paperwork necessary to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer.
“Firearms trafficking is the illegal procurement and dissemination of firearms,” Smith testified.
Hill, who is represented by defense lawyer Pietro D’Angelo, did not comment about the damaging testimony as he was escorted from court by sheriff’s deputies.
Hill, 30, of the 2900 block of Walnut Ridge Estates, faces charges of corrupt organizations, criminal use of a communication facility, unsworn falsification to authorities, unlawful transfer of a firearm, person not to possess firearms and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities in connection with seven completed straw purchases and three attempted straw purchases
that occurred between February 2015 and December 2016.
DeJohnette, 25, of the 200 block of Jay Street, West Pottsgrove, previously pleaded guilty to various felony charges in connection with his role in the illegal gun purchases and faces up to a maximum of 72 years in prison. DeJohnette, who was accompanied to court by his lawyer, testified under a proffer agreement under which prosecutors promised to make his cooperation known to his sentencing judge.
During the investigation, authorities also rounded up six of Hill’s alleged associates, those who conspired with Hill by either purchasing or attempting to purchase firearms on Hill’s behalf. Hill, detectives alleged, supplied the funds, the transportation and was present for some of the straw purchases or attempted straw purchases.
Anthony “Tek” Walker, 29, of the 200 block of North Gross Street, Philadelphia, identified in court papers as “a close associate of Michael Hill’s,” also is on trial with Hill on corrupt organizations and various weapons- and conspiracy-related charges. Walker, who is represented by defense lawyer Robert Craig Keller, allegedly took part in an attempted straw purchase at a gun show and knew the workings of the organization, according to the criminal complaint.
Keller argued Walker had nothing to do with the alleged gun trafficking activities.
Like DeJohnette, several other people allegedly involved in the organization previously pleaded guilty to weapons- or conspiracy-related charges and are awaiting sentencing.
“The main purpose of this corrupt organization was to arm individuals, including Hill, who are precluded from legally owning a firearm…due to their criminal history,” county detectives alleged in court documents. “Hill recruited and employed individuals in this gun trafficking organization with ‘clean’ criminal histories. These underlings then falsified documents to purchase multiple firearms on Hill’s behalf.”
The joint investigation was conducted by the district attorney’s Violent Crime Unit, officers from the Pottstown, West Pottsgrove and Lower Pottsgrove police departments and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In May 2015, Philadelphia police arrested a man on drug charges and discovered he illegally possessed a Springfield .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Investigators subsequently determined that DeJohnette was the original purchaser and registered owner of the weapon, having legally purchased it in March 2015 at a gun show held in Upper Providence, according to court documents.
“This firearm was not reported stolen by Phillipe DeJohnette. Through the course of this investigation, law enforcement has identified Phillipe DeJohnette as a straw purchaser in the Michael Hill gun trafficking organization,” detectives alleged.
Detectives with the Violent Crime Unit testified for co-prosecutor Robert Kolansky that they used old-fashioned surveillance, cellphone records and search warrants to link Hill to the gun trafficking organization. Hill, detectives alleged, frequented various gun shows held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Upper Providence and undercover detectives placed him under surveillance and observed Hill “walking from vendor to vendor and looking at various firearms and firearm accessories for sale.”
On Dec. 19, 2016, detectives, armed with a warrant approved by a judge, searched Hill’s Lower Pottsgrove residence. A detective testified that during the search, authorities seized three firearms and several empty gun boxes and 396 live rounds of various types of ammunition.