A West Philly man pleaded guilty to straw-purchasing 36 handguns in three months
Daniel Lucas traveled to eight counties in the eastern part of Pennsylvania to purchase the guns, prosecutors said.
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A West Philly man pleaded guilty Thursday to traveling to eight counties in Pennsylvania to illegally purchase guns on behalf of others.
Daniel Lucas, 23, entered the plea to charges including operating a corrupt organization, dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities, making materially false statements, and criminal conspiracy during a hearing before Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Rothstein.
Lucas’ plea was open, meaning no sentence was agreed upon with prosecutors. His sentencing hearing will be before Rothstein sometime early next year.
His attorney, Michael Walker, did not return a request for comment.
Montgomery County detectives began investigating Lucas in September 2020, when a routine scan of gun-purchasing records revealed he had purchased 36 handguns in a three-month span, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
» READ MORE: West Philly man traveled to 8 counties, buying 36 guns he illegally sold to others, DA says
That volume of transactions, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at the time, bore the “hallmark signs of straw purchasing.”
In one week alone during that time, Lucas bought 14 handguns, on some days making multiple purchases at different stores.
Records from gun stores showed that Lucas drove more than 1,700 miles to make the purchases, crisscrossing the state from his home in the city, the affidavit said. He visited gun shops in eight Pennsylvania counties: Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Berks, Schuylkill, and Lancaster.
His final attempted purchase was in late September 2020, at King’s Shooter Supply in King of Prussia, the affidavit said. A clerk there refused to let him buy a Glock 9mm because a state database showed that his driver’s license was invalid. That clerk later told detectives Lucas had entered the store with another man, who asked about extended magazines for the handgun.
After Lucas’ arrest in October 2020, detectives searched his home in West Philadelphia. None of the guns he purchased was found there, and Lucas had never reported them stolen.
Detectives have recovered only nine of Lucas’ guns. One of them, a 9mm Smith & Wesson that was seized from a teen in Philadelphia.