Pottstown man faces prison on gun charge

NORRISTOWN » A Pottstown man is on his way to state prison after borough police found him illegally possessing a loaded handgun during a traffic stop.

Karon Jennings Brown, 23, of the 500 block of East High Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to two to five years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of firearms not to be carried without a license in connection with a July 2017 incident in the borough. Judge William R. Carpenter said Brown is eligible for the state’s Quehanna Boot Camp, a military-style, motivational and disciplinary program located in Clearfield County.

An investigation began about 11:14 a.m. July 25, when borough police stopped Brown’s Ford Explorer for an alleged traffic violation near High and Evans streets, according to the criminal complaint.

“The operator immediately reached behind him to the floor of the back seat. He was fumbling through a black backpack,” Pottstown Police Officer Gregory Fritz alleged in the arrest affidavit.

After conducting a license and registration check, the officer returned to Brown’s vehicle and noticed that the backpack had been moved and was no longer in sight, according to court documents. The officer questioned Brown about the backpack and requested to look inside.

“The defendant stated that he had a handgun and some ‘weed’ in the backpack. He gave permission to check it. The defendant had pushed and jammed the black backpack under the back seat,” Fritz alleged.

Police recovered a Dan Wesson Arms .357 Magnum firearm, loaded with five live rounds in the cylinder, according to the criminal complaint. An additional six brasscolored rounds were found in the bottom of the backpack, police alleged.

“There was also a small amount of suspected marijuana in the backpack,” Fritz alleged.

The handgun, police said, had been reported stolen from another jurisdiction. Brown did not have a permit to carry a firearm, police said.

Other charges of persons not to possess a firearm, possessing a small amount of marijuana and possessing drug paraphernalia were dismissed against Brown in exchange for his guilty plea to the other firearms charge.