Three people charged with gun trafficking as Montco prosecutors work to crack down on straw purchases
Two of the suspects turned themselves in, while a third remains at large
Three people have been charged with straw purchasing 40 firearms throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and illegally trafficking them in Philadelphia, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Aja Morris, 27, and Antwoin Lofton, 25, both turned themselves in to police last week after the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office charged them multiple crimes including conspiracy, making false statements, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.
Kenneth Lyles, 30, of Philadelphia is wanted on similar charges and remains at large.
Lyles is accused of purchasing 20 firearms between August 2020 and January 2021 at gun dealers across Montgomery, Bucks, Philadelphia, Lehigh, and Lackawanna counties, prosecutors said, later reselling them to buyers whose criminal records prevent them from purchasing guns themselves.
Through such straw purchases, traffickers often attempt to conceal their link to those weapons by obscuring their serial numbers.
The investigation into Lyles led authorities to Morris, his former girlfriend, who is accused of purchasing and reselling nine firearms in 2020 while living with him.
Lofton, who prosecutors said was a coconspirator, is accused of trafficking 11 firearms around the same time.
Prosecutors said law enforcement recovered 11 of 40 guns over the course of their investigation, including a 9mm semiautomatic firearm Philadelphia Police seized during a narcotics arrest that first led them to Lyles.
Most of those weapons were recovered in Philadelphia, they said.
The arrests are the latest of several in Montgomery County as District Attorney Kevin R. Steele’s office works to combat straw purchases in the Philadelphia collar counties.
Steele’s prosecutors filed charges against a Philadelphia man earlier this month accusing him of trafficking guns he purchased primarily in Bucks County.
In December, a West Philadelphia man pleaded guilty in Montgomery County to trafficking 36 guns he purchased throughout the region, not long after Steele’s office announced a bust involving a ring that pedaled illegally trafficked firearms for drugs and cash.
“Gun trafficking and straw purchasing of firearms puts guns in the hands of criminals, arming people who are not legally allowed to possess a firearm,” Steele said in a statement Wednesday. “This is dangerous and a threat to public safety.”
Morris was released from custody on bond after her bail was set at $100,000. Lofton’s bail was set at $75,000. He remains in custody in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.