Judge sends gun trafficker to prison for decades

NORRISTOWN » A Lower Pottsgrove man stood emotionless in court as he learned he’ll spend decades behind bars for spearheading a gun trafficking network that included so-called “straw purchases” at gun shows in Upper Providence.

“It was an abuse that was borne out of greed and or for drugs,” Montgomery County Judge Garrett D. Page said Tuesday as he sentenced Michael Hill to 27½ to 55 years in a state correctional facility.

After a six-day trial in October, a jury convicted Hill, 31, of the 2900 block of Walnut Ridge Estates, of 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 two attempted straw purchases that occurred between February 2015 and December 2016.

The judge’s sentence included several consecutive prison terms sought by Assistant District Attorney Robert Kolansky, representing individual straw purchases.

“He recruited people to purchase seven firearms. He resold those guns on the black market on the streets. He is the black market for guns. He sells guns to make money,” Kolansky said about Hill. “He has no comprehension of the danger he put on the streets.”

At least one of the guns was used by another man during an armed robbery and shooting in West Pottsgrove, testimony revealed. While some of the guns have been recovered, at least four remain on the streets, Kolansky said.

“The damage that he has done has yet to come to fruition. That’s scary,” said Kolansky, who prosecuted the case with coprosecutor Brianna Ringwood.

During the trial, several people who admitted being involved in the conspiracy testified against Hill, identifying him in court as the person who recruited them to help make “straw purchases” so he could illegally obtain handguns. Hill, as a result of previous convictions, was a person who was not allowed to possess firearms so he was unable to legally purchase them for himself.

Many of the witnesses testified Hill supplied the funds, the transportation and was present for some of the straw purchases or attempted straw purchases at several gun shows in Upper Providence.

A straw purchase, detectives explained to the jury, 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.

Hill, a father of three young children, begged the judge for leniency.

“I’m sorry if I hurt anybody. I’m sorry for the stupid decisions I made,” Hill told the judge. “I’m ready to accept my responsibility.”

Defense lawyer Pietro D’Angelo, who represented Hill, asked the judge not to impose consecutive prison terms against Hill, arguing Hill was the product of a difficult childhood and that his poor decisions were examples of the only way he knew to survive.

“He had a very difficult childhood. His father wasn’t in his life. He was rejected by his mother,” said D’Angelo, adding Hill also suffered abuse while in the foster care system. “He didn’t have a role model. He took the wrong path. He made poor choices.”

D’Angelo said he didn’t offer the argument as an excuse but that it did provide a better understanding of how Hill came to engage in such illegal behavior.

Two of Hill’s relatives characterized Hill as “a kind, sweet person” who was a good father.

“He was always loving. He was always helpful. He was always caring,” Monique Crawford, Hill’s sister, testified.

During the trial, D’Angelo characterized the witnesses who testified against Hill as “corrupt and polluted” sources who cooperated with prosecutors to get lesser sentences for their own crimes.

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.

Detectives with the Violent Crime Unit testified 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.”

“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.”

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.

Others who were involved in the straw purchases and who testified against Hill at trial pleaded guilty or no-contest to weapons- or conspiracy-related charges and were previously sentenced.