THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290281
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
In the largest gun-running bust since Virginia's one-handgun-per-month law was passed in 1993, 15 people, most from Hampton Roads, have been indicted in a conspiracy to circumvent the law and peddle guns on the streets of Washington, D.C.
The first organized group in the state to be uncovered by federal agents purchased more than 80 firearms, many of them semi-automatic handguns, and resold them, often for double the cost. The conspiracy lasted about 17 months, authorities said.
The group was made up of straw purchasers - men and women with no criminal history - who purchased the legal limit: one handgun a month per person. They turned the guns over to a middleman, who in turn sold them in the nation's capital.
``Many of the guns purchased this way have turned up at crime scenes in the District of Columbia,'' said Helen F. Fahey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. ``This is the first organized group and marks the largest number of guns . . . purchased in violation of federal law to get around the Virginia one-gun-a-month law.''
At least 18 firearms were recovered in Washington, the indictment said.
Eleven of the 15 indicted are from Hampton Roads cities, including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton. Others lived in Richmond, Fredericksburg and Georgia.
Those indicted are: Corey Andre Ball, 26, and Michael Lee Veney, 24, of Virginia Beach; Anthony Corniel Horne, 25, Louis Simmons Jr., 24, and Michael Anthony Epps, 28, of Norfolk; Anthony Bernard Phillips, 25, Namon Lajae Jones, 21, and Alfred E. Carrington, 25, of Portsmouth; Earl Percell Sargent, 28, Theodore Lowell Walker Jr., 29, and Ronette Maria Brown, 26, of Hampton; Tyrone Lee Christopher, 24, and Kiowa Deyonka Dabbs, 23, of Richmond; Dorren Adrian Payne, 29, of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Stephen Christopher Griffin, 25, of Fredericksburg.
They each face up to five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine per charge. There were a total of 56 charges.
The guns were purchased at three gun stores, two in Hampton and one in Norfolk. The 15 allegedly lied to the dealers about the purchases and falsified federal Alcohol, Tobbaco and Firearms forms certifying they purchased the guns for their own use.
A Washington man named John Dorian Jackson - who was not indicted, but was named as an unindicted co-conspirator - recruited the defendants to buy the guns and ship them to him, the indictment said. Jackson then allegedly sold the guns. Fahey said she could not comment on why Jackson was not indicted.
The guns included .380 pistols, 9 mm pistols, .45-caliber pistols and SKS rifles. Models of choice included Jennings Model Bryco 58 9 mm pistols and Hi-Point 9 mm pistols.
The defendants allegedly were paid $50 to $100 to purchase the guns for between $99 and $240. The indictment says the guns were sold by Jackson - who usually fronted the purchase money - for between $250 and $550.
Defendants allegedly used Federal Express, Greyhound buses and the U.S. Mail to ship the guns.
Often, the indictment said, the defendants would call local police and report the firearms as stolen, probably so they would not be connected to guns recovered at a crime scene.
The indictments come at a time when federal authorities said Maryland has edged past Virginia as the single largest supplier of handguns used to commit violent crimes in Washington. Of the almost 800 handguns recovered and traced last year, 251 came from Maryland - which has no gun purchase restrictions - while 223 were purchased in Virginia.
The ATF attributes the shift to Virginia's stricter gun laws.
Since the new gun law took effect in July 1993, Virginia has supplied 65 percent fewer guns used to commit violent crimes in D.C., Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York, according to a study released in August by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
While the indictment does not spell out how ATF agents broke open the conspiracy, one count of the indictment says that on Oct. 13, 1995, a Federal Express box containing firearms ``was delivered and found in the possession of John Dorian Jackson.''
The box was allegedly shipped from Norfolk the previous day by Veney of Virginia Beach.
Federal prosecutors said none of those charged had been arrested Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: INDICTMENT GUN RUNNING by CNB