BUFFALO, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr.
announced today that Robert Reed, 49, of Bradford, PA, who was convicted of
conspiracy to transport firearms outside state of residency, was sentenced to
time served and two years supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge
William M. Skretny. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who
handled the case, stated that on October 7, 2008, the defendant, in exchange
for crack cocaine, attempted to purchase a .45 caliber firearm for co-defendant
Juan Lopez. However, the sales clerk was suspicious of the defendant’s behavior
and refused to sell the firearm to Reed. At the time of the attempted purchase,
the defendant knew that Lopez intended to bring the firearm into New York State
to use it for an unlawful purpose.
Reed was arrested, along with Juan Lopez, Robert Reed,
Jacqueline Runyan, Trisha Amidon, Robert Johnson, Misty Mihalko, Amy
Hollingsworth, and Brett Abrams. Juan Lopez recruited the co-defendants
residing in Pennsylvania to purchase firearms for him in exchange for cocaine
and money. As a convicted felon, Lopez was unable to purchase guns on his own,
prompting the need for the straw purchases. Lopez went to stores that sold guns
in Pennsylvania with some of the co-defendants to select the firearms he wanted
them to purchase. Lopez then brought the guns purchased in Pennsylvania back to
the Buffalo area. Some of the firearms were recovered after being used in
various crimes in Buffalo.
All of the defendants have been convicted and sentenced
except for Juan Lopez who is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Skretny on
November 5, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.
Today’s sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by
Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James S. Higgins,
New York Field Division.
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