Willie Earl Jackson, Gun Trafficking, Ohio 2023

Two Cleveland men have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a gun trafficking ring that sold firearms to undercover agents.

Willie Earl Jackson, 26, and Shane Plats, 31, were sentenced to prison by U.S. District Judge John. R. Adams in federal court. Jackson had earlier pled guilty to engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a federal firearms license and trafficking in firearms. Plats had earlier pled guilty to engaging in the business of dealing firearms.

According to court documents, between May and July of 2023, Plats sold at least 7 Palmetto Armory Dagger Compact 9mm pistols to Jackson, after Plats first purchased those pistols from a federal firearms licensee, knowing that Jackson intended to resell the firearms to others.

In turn, between June and August 2023, Jackson sold over 35 firearms to undercover agents who posed as gun buyers seeking to purchase firearms on the street. The firearms that Jackson sold included semi-automatic rifles and pistols, including at least one with an obliterated serial number.

Jackson was previously under investigation by the ATF. In 2022, the ATF served Jackson with a warning letter that advised him that it was unlawful to buy a firearm for someone else—often referred to as “straw purchasing.” The ATF sent this letter to Jackson after it discovered, through tracing data, that firearms Jackson had previously purchased were later recovered in connection with crimes.

Jackson received an 84-month prison sentence, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $200 special assessment. Plats was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, followed by 2 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.

The United States Attorney’s Office prosecuted these two cases under the new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Congress enacted and the President signed in June 2022.

Jackson and Plats were 2 of more than 65 individuals who the USAO charged as a part of a 3-month, violent-crime-reduction initiative in Cleveland last summer led by the ATF and the USAO, with cooperation from other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.

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