12-11-2003 -- Dillard et al. -- Indictment -- News Release

Ohio Gun Dealer and New Jersey Gang Members Charged with Interstate Gun Trafficking; College Students Used as "Straw Buyers"

NEWARK, N.J. - In the first federal prosecution of its kind, a conspiracy Indictment was unsealed today charging an Ohio gun dealer with fostering the illicit flow of guns to a New Jersey street gang via Ohio college students who acted as straw buyers in the transactions, Attorney General John Ashcroft and U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey announced.

In the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Attorney Gregory Lockhart announced that another eight defendants have already been charged in a parallel investigation into the sale through straw buyers of approximately 200 more handguns from the same gun store, the Hole in the Wall, in Xenia, Ohio. As with the straw buyers in the New Jersey Indictment, all of those straw purchasers were students or former students at Wilberforce University, a small school also in Xenia.

(The Indictment and Ohio's criminal complaints are the subject of a news conference today at 2:45 p.m. in Washington with Attorney General Ashcroft, Christie and Lockhart.)

The New Jersey Indictment alleges that approximately 76 guns made their way from the Hole in the Wall to members of the Double ii Bloods street gang, including its leader, who is currently serving a state sentence for manslaughter. Among the examples charged in the Indictment, James Dillard, the owner of the Hole in the Wall, made two large sales - one for 16 firearms, another for 15 - to two different straw buyers on April 22, 2002. Just five days earlier, Dillard had sold 25 firearms to one of those same straw buyers. The Ohio charges allege instances where as many as 25 guns were sold at once through a straw buyer.

The New Jersey prosecution marks the first time that one federal district has charged a licensed gun dealer in another state in an interstate gun-running conspiracy. While Dillard is not alleged to have known who the ultimate owners of the guns would be, he knew that the "buyers" - the students - were merely paperwork intermediaries recruited by co-conspirators to legitimize the sales in Ohio. As such, Dillard, although a federally licensed firearms dealer, is nonetheless accused of aiding and abetting others in the conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license.

The prosecution is intended to choke off the illegal sale and movement of handguns at their source and prevent them from flooding into "receiver" states like New Jersey, where gun-buying is more heavily regulated.

"This is an unprecedented approach to dealing with illegal guns that stream into New Jersey from other states and the threat they pose to public safety," U.S. Attorney Christie said. "We intend to sit this Ohio gun dealer in front of a jury at the same defense table as the leader of one of New Jersey's most violent gangs. Enough is enough. This is our warning shot to gun dealers in other states. Straighten up your act, follow the law, or come to New Jersey to be prosecuted."

Dillard and Quadree Smith, a leader or so-called "105" or "Five Star General" of the Double ii Bloods in East Orange, N.J., and two other Bloods members are charged in the New Jersey Indictment with conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license. The Indictment identifies by initials three unindicted co-conspirators, all Wilberforce students, who acted as straw gun purchasers. Dillard also has been charged federally in Ohio with making unlawful gun sales.

Smith, 23, of East Orange, is in custody in a New Jersey jail on state manslaughter charges; Dillard's arrest is being coordinated by Ohio authorities and he will be expected to appear in federal court soon. The other two Double ii Bloods members charged are Michael Harris, 22, of Irvington, who is in state custody on robbery charges, and Danny Alvarez, 24, of Orange, who is being sought by Special Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Alvarez and Harris are alleged to have transported the weapons, driving with other co-conspirators between Ohio, New Jersey and New York. Others allegedly involved in the conspiracy were two former Wilberforce students-turned gun traffickers, one of whom allegedly brokered the deals with Dillard and recruited the straw buyers at Wilberforce. They are identified in the New Jersey Indictment only as Co-conspirators A and B but are named in criminal complaints in Ohio.

Co-conspirator A is identified in Ohio as Jarrien Aguilar, a former Wilberforce student. Aguilar has pleaded guilty in Ohio to charges of conspiracy and false statements in buying a firearm. Co-conspirator B, former Wilberforce student Seon Paton, has also pleaded guilty in Ohio to conspiracy charges.

Of the 76 weapons identified in the Indictment as coming from the Ohio gun shop, approximately 15 have been recovered by local, state and federal law enforcement. All of the recovered guns were involved in crimes, underscoring the urgency of this prosecution and gravity of the criminal conduct of just one gun shop. The weapons were found to have been used in the aide of drug trafficking, in shootings, carried by members of different Bloods "sets" in New Jersey, including the Gangsta Killa Bloods of East Orange, or were otherwise carried by previously convicted felons.

Gun-purchasing restrictions vary widely state to state. In Ohio, there is no limit on the number of guns that can be purchased in one day. All a buyer needs is valid identification and to pass a criminal background check that can be completed within minutes.

With no criminal histories, the student straw buyers referred to in the New Jersey Indictment were allegedly recruited by Dillard's co-conspirators to use their real identities for the purchases, which were negotiated between Dillard and a former Wilberforce student, identified as Co-conspirator A in the Indictment. Dillard, according to the Indictment, would assist Co-conspirator A in deciding which firearms to purchase and recommended certain guns. Dillard then provided the firearms to Co-Conspirator A through the three straw purchasers, according to the Indictment.

The conspiracy charge in the New Jersey Indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Smith also is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and $250,000 fine.

The charges in the Indictment and Ohio criminal complaints are merely accusations. Each of the defendants is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

U.S. Attorney Christie credited the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William McMahon, in New York, and Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Louie F. Allen in Newark, with developing the case against the defendants; as well as police officers in East Orange and Newark for arrests and recoveries of weapons in the course of their duties.

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