Three Philly men used an Army soldier’s stolen ID to illegally purchase 14 guns, Montco DA says
The soldier had lost his wallet while visiting his mother in East Germantown, investigators said, and some of her neighbors used his ID to start a gun-trafficking ring.
When a U.S. Army soldier lost his wallet while visiting his mother in East Germantown in April, authorities said, thieves picked it up, stole his identity, and used it to buy 14 handguns, some of them later used in crimes.
Taalibudeen “Taalib” Ibn Hasdn Anderson, 22, and Tariq Anderson, 23, who live a few houses down from the soldier’s mother on Boyer Street; and Daijon Griffin, 21, of Wilmington, were each charged this week with more than 500 counts of identity theft and gun trafficking, according to Montgomery County court documents unsealed Thursday.
There was no indication that any of the three had hired lawyers.
The group, using the stolen military ID and driver’s license, bought the handguns from a federally licensed arms dealer in Wyndmoor, and attempted to buy 14 more before detectives, alerted to the crime by the high volume of the men’s purchases, shut down the transactions.
» READ MORE: Special Report: Philly has a gun problem. Straw buying makes it worse.
Three of the guns were later recovered from suspects in shootings or other incidents in Philadelphia, according to the affidavit of probable cause for the men’s arrests.
Taalibudeen Anderson posed as the soldier — able to do so, law enforcement sources said, due to their resemblance — and made the purchases between June 17 and July 6, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.
“These defendants were arming criminals, plain and simple,” Steele said. “And the actions of these criminals are made even worse by their taking advantage of a loss by a soldier serving our country.”
The Andersons needed to impersonate the soldier, the affidavit said, in order to pass the required background check required for gun purchases. Both are barred from buying guns themselves due to previous convictions: The elder Anderson has a drug conviction from 2019, and his brother was adjudicated delinquent for felony robbery in 2017.
The soldier said he had reported his wallet stolen to his superiors, and had never met the suspects, nor given them permission to buy guns in his name, the affidavit said.
Detectives arrested the Andersons on July 12 outside of TriTac Firearms in Wyndmoor, where they were trying to buy more guns, the affidavit said. During a subsequent search of the home the brothers share on Boyer Street, the affidavit said, officers found numerous empty gun boxes matching the handguns the two had previously purchased, as well as shipping labels, ammunition and receipts for guns and accessories.
Investigators later learned, through recorded prison phone calls, that Griffin was helping the two sell the guns and attempted to delete evidence of the transactions from Taalibudeen Anderson’s email, the affidavit said. He was later taken into custody, as well.