Former Philly anti-violence advocate gets 10 years in federal prison for gun trafficking

A 47-year-old Philadelphia man who worked as an anti-violence youth mentor in the city was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 10 years in prison for illegally trafficking dozens of guns from South Carolina to Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced.

Kyle McLemore pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy, dealing in firearms without a license, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Prosecutors said McLemore began participating in the gun-trafficking conspiracy just months after he was paroled in 2020 from state prison, where he served time after being convicted of third-degree murder for a high-profile 1998 fatal shooting outside the Palestra basketball arena at the University of Pennsylvania.

McLemore also was charged in 2021 for fraudulently obtaining federal pandemic-relief funds, which he started just days after being released from prison in 2020. Federal court records show he pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced last year to 24 months in prison.

“While he was reselling illegal guns in Philadelphia, McLemore worked as a ‘youth advocate’ at the NOMO (New Options More Opportunities) Foundation, an organization that provides children and teens with education, tutoring, mentoring, career readiness training, behavioral health counseling, and other services to reduce the factors that lead to gun violence,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

McLemore was quoted several times by the Inquirer as an anti-violence youth mentor.

A representative for NOMO could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that McLemore was one of seven defendants convicted for participating in a scheme to straw purchase nearly 60 firearms in South Carolina and resell them in Philadelphia.

“Kyle McLemore sold dozens of guns from South Carolina on the streets of Philadelphia, while pretending to work to reduce gun violence on those same streets,” Romero said in a statement.

“McLemore knew all too well from his criminal history and community work that illegally trafficked firearms fuel the deadly violence in his community,” Eric Degree, special agent in charge with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in a statement.

United States District Court Judge Harvey Bartle III on Tuesday also sentenced McLemore to three years of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment.