Norristown man admits to 18 illegal gun sales
NORRISTOWN » A Norristown man admitted that on 18 occasions, over a period of seven years, he illegally transferred or sold firearms to others and now faces the possibility of decades behind bars.
Alfred Lawrence Dukes Jr., 46, whose last known address was in the 300 block of East Wood Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday to 18 counts of illegal transfer or sale of firearms in connection with incidents that occurred between January 2009 and December 2016. Judge Garrett D. Page deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Dukes.
Dukes, who remains in jail pending his sentencing hearing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 86 to 172 years in prison on the charges.
“He admitted to purchasing 18 firearms and then selling or transferring those firearms illegally to other people in violation of the Firearms Act,” said county Assistant District Attorney Laura Bradbury, explaining the nature of those firearms to others who were prohibited by law from possessing weapons.
“The danger is you’re putting guns in the hands of people who are intending to use those guns violently,” Bradbury alleged.
Officials identified a total of 18 handguns and a shotgun purchased by and registered to Dukes. Those firearms included six .22-caliber handguns, nine .380-caliber handguns, two .40-caliber handguns and one .25-caliber handgun. All of the firearms were purchased from 2009 to 2016 from federally licensed firearms dealers located in Montgomery
County, authorities alleged.
Prosecutors could seek mandatory five-year prison terms against Dukes for some of the illegal gun sales.
Bradbury, in court papers, explained that the first of the alleged firearms sales is graded as a second-degree misdemeanor. However, “as the seventeen additional sales represent second and subsequent violations,” counts two through 18 are graded as second-degree felonies with corresponding fiveyear mandatory minimum sentences for each.
The judge could impose any of those mandatory sentences consecutively.
According to court documents filed on behalf of Dukes, he served in the U.S. Navy during Operation Desert Shield and was honorably discharged in 1995. Dukes “received a medal of Meritorious Conduct and an Overseas Ribbon,” according to those court documents.
Dukes, who is represented by defense lawyer Francis Genovese, was arrested in April after a joint investigation by the Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s Violent Crime Unit and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The investigation began after four firearms were seized in Bronx, New York, in connection with a criminal investigation there, according to court documents. The guns were registered
to Dukes, who had never reported them missing or stolen, authorities alleged. Nine of the firearms were seized in separate criminal investigations, including six in the Bronx, one in Suffolk County, N.Y., and two in Norristown.
“These firearms were not seized from Dukes. Law enforcement has only found one connection between these separate criminal investigations and Dukes. The only connection law enforcement was able to discover is that all of the firearms are registered to Alfred Lawrence Dukes Jr.,” county Detective James Carbo alleged in the arrest
affidavit.
Carbo alleged individuals such as Dukes will purchase a firearm, illegally transfer that firearm to another person and then allow that person to illegally possess it, something law enforcement officials refer to as a “straw purchase.”
“Individuals like Dukes operate in this manner in an attempt to conceal the true identity of the ultimate possessor of the firearm. By concealing their actual identity it hinders law enforcement investigations into firearm violations and crimes of violence,” Carbo wrote in the criminal complaint.