Straw gun purchaser sentenced to prison
Weapon led to accidental shooting of 4-year-old boy
A Chester County man whose transfer of a handgun for a teenager led indirectly to the death of a 4-year-old child in an accidental shooting has pleaded guilty to making the straw purchase of the gun used in the tragedy.
William Thomas, who was legally prohibited from purchasing or owning any firearm, entered guilty pleas for five counts on Friday, including three charges of illegal sale or transfer of firearms before Common Pleas Court Judge Alita Rovito.
Rovito accepted the pleas and sentenced Thomas to a state prison term of three to six years, plus an additional five years of probation. The terms of the sentence were negotiated between Senior Deputy District Attorney Erin O’Brien and Assistant Public Defender Nellie Verduci, who represented Thomas.
Thomas gave a gun he purchased at a Lancaster County gun store to Victor Lara-Ortiz, an 18-year-old from Coatesville whom he knew, in February 2022. A few days after getting the weapon, Lara-Ortiz left the Glock 43 semi-automatic in his unlocked bedroom at the family home in Coatesville.
While he was away, 4-year-old Roman Aguilera-Ortiz, Lara-Ortiz’s brother, went into the room, found the gun, and began playing with it. He accidentally shot himself in the head. An older brother found him in the room and called police. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both Thomas, 34, and Lara-Ortiz were arrested a few weeks later and charged in the case after an investigation by Coatesville police and Chester County Detectives. Lara-Ortiz was charged with involuntary manslaughter, firearms not to be carried without a license, endangering
the welfare of a child, and related offenses, for leaving a loaded firearm unholstered and unsecured on his bedroom table.
Thomas was charged with illegally purchasing and transferring the firearm to Lara-Ortiz, delivery of firearms to a minor, attempted purchases of illegal firearms, and related offenses.
At the time, District Attorney Deb Ryan and Coatesville Police Chief Jack Laufer spoke of the heartbreaking nature of the case and the need for illegal guns to get off the street.
“This gun violence must stop,” said Ryan at a press conference in March 2022. “We cannot lose another life to this senseless crime. We will hold everyone accountable who contributes to gun violence.
Said Laufer: “This tragedy illustrates how solutions need to involve all entities within our communities. It takes everybody’s effort” — family, parents, teachers, clergy.”
According to authorities, Coatesville police and EMS were called to the 300 block of East Chestnut Street on Feb. 28, 2022, for the report of a child with a gunshot wound. Police recovered a semi-automatic Glock model 43X pistol lying next to the victim on the floor inside Lara-Ortiz’s bedroom during a search warrant of the residence. The gun had one expended shell casing in the chamber. A magazine with several unexpended bullets was inserted into the magazine well of the gun.
Investigators learned that Lara-Ortiz had left the loaded gun unsecured and unholstered on a table in his bedroom with the door open and unlocked when he left home earlier that day. Detectives traced the gun’s serial number through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They discovered that the Trop Gun Shop in Gap, Lancaster County, sold it to Thomas on Feb. 15. Thomas was not allowed to purchase a firearm because of a prior criminal conviction for domestic violence.
In addition, investigators learned that Thomas did not provide truthful information on his firearms application. He used Lara-Ortiz’s phone number instead of his own and failed to report his prior conviction.
Police learned that Thomas illegally gave the semi-automatic Glock 43X to Lara-Ortiz the same day he purchased it. An examination of Lara-Ortiz’s cell phone showed a video of Lara-Ortiz firing the Glock from a car on Feb. 16 in Valley, outside the city. That was the day of his 18th birthday.
Laufer said at the press conference that Lara-Ortiz had indicated he got the gun from Thomas for “self-protection.”
During this investigation, police also discovered that Thomas attempted to purchase two other firearms illegally. On Feb. 15, at 1:30 p.m., Thomas tried to purchase a firearm at Chester County Outdoors in Malvern, but the sale was declined after a background check. An eyewitness reported that LaraOrtiz was present with Thomas during this incident.
On Feb. 19, just a few days after successfully purchasing the gun given to Lara-Ortiz, Thomas attempted to purchase a firearm again at the Trop Gun Shop. The sale was denied.
Lara-Ortiz eventually pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, as well as firearms violations. In February, a Common Pleas judge sentenced him to house arrest and five years of probation. Judge Analisa Sondergaard noted the remorse that Lara-Ortiz expressed at the death of his brother and the steps he had made to redeem himself.
It is unclear whether the gun shop in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, was ever prosecuted for the sale of the weapon.