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Philadelphia man charged in straw purchases of 16 firearms

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In a joint operation by Detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, the Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a 25-year-old Philadelphia man was arrested on Friday for the illegal straw purchases of 16 firearms from gun stores in Bucks, Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Delaware counties.
Deon Lamont Hudson, of Philadelphia, was charged with 39 counts of unlawful sale or transfer of a firearm and conspiracy to commit of unlawful sale or transfer of a firearm. He was arrested in Philadelphia on Friday and arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Frank W. Peranteau Sr., who sent him to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $200,000 bail, 10 percent.
“By putting him out of commission and out of illegal commerce, we have undoubtedly saved lives,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.
The investigation found that between August 2020 and November 2021 Hudson purchased 16 9-mm firearms at eight locations across Bucks, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and Delaware counties. Investigators determined Hudson then illegally transfered the purchased weapons to others who were not legally able to purchase firearms. Two of the firearms were recovered on teenagers in Philadelphia within 50 days of the date of purchase, and one of those guns was traced back to two shooting incidents in Philadelphia.

Investigators obtained an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of all guns purchased by Hudson and found he purchased all 9-mm handguns, including seven in a two-week span in August 2021. He purchased two of the guns in a suspicious transaction from Johnston’s Sporting Goods in Croydon, Bristol Township, the DA’s office said.
Investigators used data to discover the straw purchases, including the purchase of guns within days and sometimes weeks from each other from various gun dealers in several different counties; the purchase of the same make, model, and caliber of firearm; and a lack of stolen gun reports.
“By using data and intelligence facilitated by our Track & Trace program, this joint investigation linked two of the guns straw purchased by the defendant to at least two shooting incidents in Philadelphia,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.


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