Melvin Burroughs, Trafficking Firearms, New York 2022

A Connecticut man has been sentenced to prison for trafficking at least 32 ‘ghost guns’.

Melvin Burroughs, 36, of Ansonia, Connecticut, was sentenced to 58 months in prison for trafficking firearms.

According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, Burroughs built and sold a ‘veritable armory of ghost guns,’ and he now faces prison time for his crimes.

From approximately 2019 through approximately January 2022, Burroughs purchased the parts for ‘ghost guns,’ assembled the parts into completed firearms, and then illegally sold the working and completed firearms.

On March 14, 2021, Burroughs exited his house in Ansonia, Connecticut, with a handgun and discharged five rounds at two men who had approached his house.

In connection with the shooting and search of his residence, Burroughs was charged in the Superior Court of Connecticut – Ansonia-Milford Judicial District in Milford, Connecticut, with Connecticut state offenses and was released on bail conditions.

On January 8, 2022, while on bail for the shooting, Burroughs was arrested in Westchester County, New York, with kits to build 17 ghost guns, a completed lower receiver for an AR-15 rifle, 15 extended magazines, and an 18-inch machete.

After Burroughs was arrested on January 8, 2022, law enforcement agents searched multiple cellphones belonging to Burroughs pursuant to search warrants.

Evidence on those cellphones, including text message communications, videos, and photographs, established that Burroughs has been unlawfully selling firearms since approximately 2019.

In addition to the prison term, Burroughs was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

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