Four charged with illegally purchasing firearms in central Ohio for resale in Canada – News – The Columbus Dispatch

Four people, including two from Franklin County, have been federally charged in a scheme to illegally purchase firearms in central Ohio and then smuggle them across the border to be resold in Canada.

Benjamin C. Glassman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Trevor Velinor, special agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, unsealed the indictments Wednesday. They originally were returned Aug. 30.

Those charged include: Jeremy Hearn, 40, whose last known address was in North Linden; Marcedes Green, 28, of the Southeast Side; Jerome Watkins Jr., 33, of Niagara Falls, New York, and Kristina DeLorenzo, 31, of Lewiston, New York.

According to the indictment, the four served from January through April as either straw purchasers, couriers or resellers of firearms that were bought in Columbus and eventually resold in Canada. There were 38 guns involved in the operation.

Hearn is accused of purchasing firearms from various federally licensed dealers in central Ohio by providing false information on ATF Form 4473, which affirms that the buyer intends to own the gun. Green, with money supplied by Hearn, assisted in purchasing at least six of the guns, court records show.

Hearn, Watkins and DeLorenzo then allegedly acted as couriers or assisted, regularly traveling between Columbus and Niagara Falls. In Canada, the guns were resold for profit to individuals who were otherwise unable to legally acquire firearms because of felony convictions or other prohibitions, court records show.

Conviction of conspiracy to illegally transfer firearms is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

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