7 arrested for alleged involvement in gun and drug trafficking ring, Montco officials say
Officials say the group bought 19 guns, skewed their serial numbers, and sold them to people prohibited from owning firearms. In addition, officials say the group sold multiple illegal substances.
Seven people have been arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in a gun and drug trafficking ring, law enforcement officials in Montgomery County announced Monday.
Officials say the group bought and sold 19 guns, skewed their serial numbers, and sold them to people prohibited from owning firearms — an illegal practice also known as “straw purchasing.” In addition, officials say the group sold multiple illegal substances, including methamphetamine.
Christopher McNelly, 26, of Norristown, along with Philadelphia residents Scott Grondin, 42; Bella Kenna, 21; Anthony Figueroa-Marko, 34; Emanuel Torres, 32; Asad Sayed, 27; and Felicia McKinnell, 28, were arrested and charged over the last two weeks, according to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Investigative Division.
The charges against each member of the group vary, but officials say offenses include corrupt organizations, conspiracy, making false statements, possession with intent to deliver, and firearms charges. Officials say Grondin was the organization’s leader. He faces 216 charges.
Kenna’s attorney, Anthony F. Godshall, said his client is innocent and that much of the case “is based on circumstantial evidence at best or mere conjecture,” while Michael A. Walker, lawyer for Sayed, vowed to fight the charges in court and said the “case will not be tried in the media.”
Attorneys for McKinnell and Figueroa-Marko declined to comment, and lawyers for Grondin and Torres did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
According to the news release, the Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s Violent Crime Unit launched an investigation into Grondin, Figueroa-Marko, and Kenna’s suspected involvement with straw gun purchases and illegal firearm transfers in December 2023 after the three “exhibited suspicious behavior” while buying multiple firearms at the Oaks Gun Show.
The investigation — which used methods including surveillance, controlled drug buys and captured text messages — revealed that seven people were involved in a group that illegally bought and sold firearms in addition to illegal drugs, officials said. The group operated out of a home along the 2300 block of North Ninth Street in North Philadelphia, where Grondin, Kenna and Figueroa-Marko lived, officials said.
The firearms were purchased from gun shops, and shows in Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Counties, officials said, bought by the others on behalf of Grondin, who was not allowed to legally own a gun. According to the criminal complaint, the group allegedly “obliterated” serial numbers — a practice where straw-purchased firearms have their identifying numbers removed or scratched off to protect the item’s paper trail as it moves from owner to owner. Possessing a firearm with an altered serial number is considered illegal. Grondin, Kenna, and others would then sell the altered guns to others who were not permitted to own firearms, officials said.
In one text exchange from September 2023 captured by investigators, Grondin expressed the “urgent need of” a Dremel tool to remove serial numbers from four firearms. ”I can’t sell any of these things until we have that,” he texted in another exchange, according to the criminal complaint.
Last month, investigators raided Torres’ apartment, where officers said they found him with a loaded pistol at his feet, a suspected bag of cocaine in a bag labeled “coke,” and multiple containers next to the toilet.
“It was apparent they were destroying evidence by flushing it down the toilet before we made entry into the residence,” the criminal complaint said.
None of the illegally purchased or sold firearms have been recovered by law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint.
Preliminary hearings for Grondin, Kenna, Sayed, Figueroa-Marko, Torres, and McKinnell are expected to take place this week and next in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. A preliminary hearing for McNelly has not yet been scheduled.