Roderico Allen, Making a False Statement, Ohio 2022

Three more people have pleaded guilty in connection with a conspiracy to buy firearms online using stolen credit card information.

CINCINNATI – Roderico "Rico" Allen, 27, pleaded guilty today to charges of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, in the spring of 2022, Allen attempted to place dozens of online orders for handguns using stolen credit card information.

He placed all the orders in the names of other individuals whom he had recruited to pick up the weapons for him.

Fraud prevention systems stopped some of the orders, but Allen and his co-conspirators completed the sale of at least six of the firearms.

Nehamiah Jones, 24, also pleaded guilty on Aug. 19 to using stolen credit card information during the spring of 2022 to purchase nine handguns from online retailers for shipment to, and pickup from, Cincinnati-area federal firearms licensees.

Nehamiah Jones, also pleaded guilty to submitting a fraudulent application for a pandemic-related Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2021, falsely claiming that he owned a business called "massage on air," when in fact no such business existed.

Aneesah Williams, 28, pleaded guilty today to one count of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

According to court documents, Williams successfully obtained eight firearms in illegal straw purchases and attempted to obtain three others.

The pleas were announced by Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; Jared Murphy, Acting Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations Detroit Field Office; Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge; and Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey.

Assistant United States Attorney Julie D. Garcia and Danielle Margeaux are representing the United States in these cases.

One co-defendant, Zephaniah Jones, has been sentenced to 79 months in prison.

Making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

A conviction for aggravated identity theft requires a mandatory two-year prison term in addition to any other sentences imposed.

Making false statements to an agency of the United States is punishable by up to five years in prison.

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