Gun in stolen car lands man in jail
NORRISTOWN » A Trappe man will spend several months in jail after he admitted to illegally possessing a firearm while occupying a vehicle that had been reported stolen.
Jimmy Gibbs, 20, whose last known address was in the first block of Elio Circle, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to four to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of person not to possess a firearm and receiving stolen property, specifically a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck, in connection with an April 2016 incident.
Judge Thomas C. Branca, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Gibbs to complete two years’ probation following parole, meaning Gibbs will be under court supervision for about four years.
The judge also ordered Gibbs to forfeit to county detectives the Smith & Wesson revolver that he had illegally possessed.
As part of the plea agreement, other charges of firearms not to be carried without a license and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle were dismissed against Gibbs.
An investigation of Gibbs began about 5:16 p.m. April 22, 2016, when state police at Skippack received a report of an erratic driver operating
a Ford pickup truck, swerving on the roadway, on West Main Street in Trappe, according to a criminal complaint. Witnesses gave a description of the driver, which included visible tattoos on his neck and forearms.
State police troopers responded to the area and located the now unoccupied truck parked on Elio Circle directly in front of a residence linked to Gibbs, court papers indicate. The investigation determined that the pickup truck had been listed as stolen by Philadelphia police on April 21.
Witnesses told police they had seen Gibbs operating the truck between April 21 and April 22.
When state police searched the vehicle they found an unregistered Smith & Wesson revolver n the center console of the vehicle.
“A latent palm print was recovered from the rear view mirror on the inside of the vehicle,” state police Trooper Brad Furlong wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the print was sent to a state police crime lab for analysis. “The print was identified to the left palm of the defendant.”
Police said Gibbs had visible tattoos on his neck and forearms, matching witness descriptions of the man seen operating the vehicle.
The owner of the pickup truck told police he did not know Gibbs and that he did not give Gibbs permission to operate his vehicle. The owner of the vehicle also confirmed that he did not own a Smith & Wesson revolver nor was the firearm present in the vehicle when it was stolen, according to the criminal complaint.