Prosecutors: 2 charged for illegally trafficking nearly 60 guns to Philadelphia from South Carolina
PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia man was among two people charged for allegedly trafficking nearly 60 guns into Philadelphia from South Carolina, according to federal authorities.
United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced charges Friday against Terrance Darby, 41, and Ontavious Plumer, 32. Both men face charges of unlicensed dealing and transport of firearms, conspiracy to engage in unlicensed dealing of firearms and to make false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Darby, a Philadelphia resident, was also charged with drug trafficking and gun possession.
Investigators found that between November 2020 and February 2021, Darby and Plummer allegedly conspired with at least four other individuals to illegally straw-purchase almost 60 firearms from federally licensed gun shops in South Carolina, then transport these firearms via car into Philadelphia.
Darby would allegedly place orders for firearms with Plumer, who would then direct co-conspirators to straw purchase firearms and transport them to Darby and his co-conspirator in Philadelphia, an Eastern District of Pennsylvania Department of Justice release said.
Prosecutors say Friday's announcement is the third of its kind over the last two months in an effort to thwart the flow of illegal guns to Philadelphia known federally as "the iron pipeline."
In April, prosecutors brought charges against multiple people in two different cases involving the unlawful trafficking of approximately 400 firearms up the ‘iron pipeline’ into the city.
"With today’s charges, we have shut off yet another valve to stem the flow of guns into Philadelphia," U.S. Attorney Williams said. "Our Office is working with urgency and determination to get guns off the streets of our city."