Jamaican gets 18 mths for ghost gun operation

A Jamaican man described as the “brains” who used his apartment to manufacture ghost guns that were sold on the streets of Connecticut is going to prison for 18 months.

Audley Reeves, 31, was sentenced in a United States District Court on Thursday, nearly three months after he pleaded to engaging in the manufacturing of firearms without a licence, the US Attorney for the District of Connecticut confirmed.

Another man, John Lee Ortiz, pleaded guilty on November 8 to one count of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a licence and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 3 next year.

Ghost guns, which have become increasingly popular in the criminal underworld, are homemade firearms assembled with parts made by 3D printers and other pre-made parts purchased in stores.

According to law-enforcement authorities, in most cases, they do not have a serial number or other identifying markings, making it almost impossible to trace them to the owner, seller, or manufacturer.

There is no evidence that they have surfaced in Jamaica, police officials here have disclosed.

Reeves and Ortiz were arrested on January 5 this year days after investigators made controlled purchases of seven handguns, a Bushmaster 223 calibre rifle, and several rounds of ammunition from Ortiz.

All the guns and some of the bullets were made by Reeves inside his East Hartford apartment, authorities said.

A court-ordered search of the apartment on the day of the arrest revealed six fully assembled firearms, 25 partially assembled guns, three high-capacity magazines, various firearm parts, and tools used to make firearms.

A 3D printer inside the apartment was in the process of printing stock for an AR-15 style rifle when law-enforcement agents showed up.

“It was only a matter of time that the six fully assembled guns would make it into the community and the 25 lower receivers would be fully assembled and sold. Twenty-five-plus six, plus seven equal 38 guns,” prosecutors noted, pointing to the firearms and gun parts found in the apartment.

According to video and audio recordings captured during the controlled purchases, Ortiz boasted that he had the connections to get the guns sold while his “Jamaican boy” was the “brains of the operation”.

Ortiz acknowledged, too, that Reeves wanted out and even relocated to the state of Massachusetts but said he convinced the Jamaican to return to their gun-trafficking operations.