Geryiell Lamont Walker, II, Straw Purchasing, Minnesota 2022

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota - Two men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a scheme that illegally straw purchased dozens of firearms in the state of Minnesota.

Geryiell Lamont Walker, II, 23, was sentenced to 60 months in prison, and Jeffrey Paul Jackson, 32, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, for their involvement in the straw purchasing scheme. Their co-defendant, Sarah Jean Elwood, 34, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 14, 2022.

According to court documents, between approximately May 2020 and May 2021, Walker, Jackson, and Elwood conspired together to illegally purchase dozens of firearms from various Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) in the state of Minnesota. Elwood, who had a permit-to-carry firearms, would go to various FFLs and purchase multiple firearms on behalf of Walker and others, who requested the firearms through Jackson and often provided the funds in advance of, or immediately after, the purchases.

In making the purchases, Elwood knowingly misrepresented to the licensed dealers that she was the actual purchaser of the firearms, when in fact she and her co-defendants knew she was not. Walker, Jackson, and others helped arrange the deals, which included a $100 fee for each straw purchased gun. In total, the defendants illegally straw purchased approximately 95 firearms, including approximately 62 firearms in May 2021 alone.

To date, 18 of these firearms have been recovered by local and federal law enforcement at various crime scenes or in the possession of persons legally prohibited from possessing firearms.

Straw purchasing typically involves a buyer who is legally permitted to purchase firearms from an FFL, but who then unlawfully provides the purchased firearm to another person who is prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms. By making a straw purchase, the buyer enables a prohibited person - typically a convicted felon - to illegally obtain a firearm and avoid the national background check system.

This case was made possible in part by investigative leads generated from the ATF's National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). NIBIN is the only national network that allows for the capture and comparison of ballistic evidence to aid in solving and preventing violent crimes involving firearms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar prosecuted the case. The ATF and the Blaine Police Department conducted the investigation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/two-men-sentenced-prison-illegally-straw-purchasing-dozens-firearms