NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man will spend more than a decade behind bars after he admitted to participating in gun trafficking activities, specifically purchasing 25 firearms for others who were not permitted to possess them in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties.
Demetrius Andre Johnson, 25, of the 3800 block of Archer Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Thursday to 13 to 26 years in a state correctional institution on charges of corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, criminal use of a communication facility and sale or transfer of firearms to ineligible persons in connection with a straw purchase scheme he carried out between September 2021 and March 2022 in the three counties.
Judge Thomas C. Branca imposed the sentence. Johnson pleaded guilty to the charges in March.
“He was the purchaser, he was the supplier and he was the transferer. The danger of straw purchasing, in general, is that you have an individual who can lawfully purchase firearms willfully putting those firearms in the hands of other individuals who cannot have those guns,” said Assistant District Attorney Robert Joseph Waeltz Jr., adding that many times such guns are used in violent crimes.
Waeltz, who argued for a lengthy prison term against Johnson while pointing to the gravity of the offense and the number of firearms involved, said the investigation revealed that only six of the 25 firearms were recovered, five in Philadelphia and one in Elkton, Md., during other investigations.
“That leaves 19 firearms unaccounted for. That’s extremely dangerous because we don’t know where those guns are and we don’t know who has them. We know nothing about where those guns are or what violence they have possibly caused at this point,” Waeltz said.
Johnson apologized for his conduct. Defense lawyer Benjamin Cooper, who argued for a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison for Johnson, said Johnson now realizes the dangerous nature of his conduct.
“He hates himself for doing that and wants to overcome it and become good. No question, that he regrets it,” Cooper said on Johnson’s behalf, adding the sentence was “fair.”
In January 2022, Montgomery County detectives with the county’s Violent Crime Unit began an investigation of Johnson after reviewing federal firearms purchase records to identify possible indicators in so-called “straw purchases.”
A straw purchase occurs when a person with a clean background purchases firearms on behalf of another person, who by law is prohibited from possessing a firearm, in order to conceal the true ownership of the firearm. Those who are unable to legally purchase firearms include convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, juveniles and mentally ill individuals.
Johnson did not have a criminal history that would preclude him from purchasing firearms.
According to a criminal complaint, during a review of Johnson’s firearms purchase history, detectives uncovered 25 firearms purchases and three attempted purchases. The purchases occurred at licensed gun dealers in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties.
The purchases included 9mm semiautomatic and Glock model .40-caliber and .45-caliber firearms, according to court papers.
On Jan. 25, 2022, Philadelphia police arrested a male, whose criminal history prohibited him from possessing a firearm, who had a Glock 45 9mm semiautomatic firearm that Johnson had purchased on Jan. 16, 2022, according to the arrest affidavit.
“This recovery is nine days after Johnson purchased this firearm,” detectives wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Johnson had not reported any of his firearms as being lost or stolen, detectives said.
During the investigation, detectives also uncovered a video posted on the social media app Instagram by a Philadelphia male who displayed a Glock firearm box that was linked to a gun purchased by Johnson from a West Norriton gun shop on Oct. 11, 2021, according to court papers.
“Johnson is not seen within the video, which further leads us to believe the firearm was illegally transferred,” detectives alleged in the criminal complaint, adding the male who created the video on Instagram was advertising the sale of the firearm that had been purchased by Johnson. “All of these factors are consistent with an individual/organization illegally obtaining a firearm and then using social media to market the firearm for sale.”
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau was assisted during the investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Philadelphia police and members of the Bucks and Montgomery County Safe Streets Task Force.
