Pennsylvania Man Gets 90 Months In Prison For Trafficking Guns Into South Jersey

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Carbon County, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced today to 90 months in prison for conspiring to illegally traffic over 20 firearms – including assault rifles and other high-capacity weapons – into the Camden area, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Darnel Johns, 49, of Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to deal in firearms without a federal firearms license and one count of possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Judge Kugler imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court:

Johns admitted that in the Fall and Winter of 2014, he conspired with co-defendant David Potts, 45, of Camden, to illegally sell at least 22 guns. The firearms included a sawed-off shotgun, multiple high-capacity assault-style rifles, and a high-capacity assault-style pistol with a 30-round magazine. Several of the firearms were stolen and had obliterated serial numbers.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Johns to three years of supervised release.

Potts previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced on April 10, 2017 to 121 months in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John B. Devito, Newark Field Division, and Essam Rabadi, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, with the investigation. He additionally credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Camden Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski; the ATF Charlotte Field Division under the direction of Special Agent in Charge C. J. Hyman; investigators with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo; detectives of the Camden County Police Department, under the direction of Chief Scott J. Thomson; the Newark Division of Public Safety’s Ballistics Laboratory; and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office Ballistics Laboratory, with the investigation.

He additionally credited the U.S. Marshals Service, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos, Jr.; investigators under the Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; the New Jersey State Police’s Metro South Unit, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes; the New Jersey State Parole Board, under the direction of Chairman James T. Plousis; the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Gilbert L. Wilson; and the Cherry Hill, Pennsauken and Maple Shade Police Departments.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara A. Aliabadi of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

This investigation was coordinated through the Camden County Crime Collaboration (“C-4”). Every federal, state and local law enforcement agency and prosecutor’s office responsible for combating drug trafficking, gang activity and violent crime in Camden has come together in one location to share intelligence, develop strategies and support the investigative and prosecutorial efforts of its partners. C-4 has merged the individual missions of the various law enforcement agencies into a single strategic attack on drug trafficking and drug-related violent crime. Such intense coordination greatly enhances the law enforcement community’s ability to correctly identify and successfully prosecute Camden’s most dangerous criminals.

Defense counsel: Thomas Young Esq., Assistant Federal Defender, Philadelphia