Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Illegal Firearms Dealer Admits Selling More Than 200 Guns to Drug Dealers and Other Criminals in the Camden Area
CAMDEN, N.J. – A Burlington County, New Jersey, man today admitted selling to a Camden drug dealer and other criminals in the Camden area at least 200 firearms that he purchased with cash from other illicit firearms dealers, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Joshua Jackson, 35, a/k/a “Trent,” of Willingboro, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count each of dealing firearms without a license, conspiracy to deal in firearms without a federal firearms license, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements made in court:
Jackson admitted that between December 2009 and September 2010, he sold or brokered the sale of at least 200 handguns that he purchased with cash from illegal gun distributors in Ohio and from straw purchases by associates of his from gun stores in Columbus, Ohio.
Jackson sold many of the weapons to Terrance Laboo, 33, of Oaklyn, New Jersey. Laboo previously pleaded guilty before Judge Kugler and admitted that at the time of the firearms purchases from Jackson he was a Camden drug dealer engaged in ongoing sales of PCP. Jackson also sold guns to other criminals in the South Jersey area.
Laboo has acknowledged that at the time he purchased these firearms from Jackson, he was distributing PCP and cocaine from the corner of 4th and Chestnut Streets in Camden. Laboo also previously admitted he sold, directed or brokered the sale of many of the firearms he purchased to other drug dealers in southern New Jersey.
Jackson obtained most of the firearms through purchases at gun shows from unlicensed gun sellers who were not subject to background checks. Some of the firearms also were purchased at Ohio gun stores by straw purchasers working for Jackson, who then transported the handguns to New Jersey from Ohio and resold them to Laboo and others in the Camden area.
Laboo previously admitted he knew he was buying guns that came illegally from Ohio and Virginia.
Jackson transported the illegal firearms purchased in the Columbus, Ohio, area back to Camden and the surrounding area using a rental car and by using an associate to transport them in duffel bags on Greyhound buses running between Columbus and the Greyhound bus terminals in Philadelphia and Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
The illegal firearms dealing count and the conspiracy count to which Jackson pleaded guilty each carry a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The possession of firearms by a convicted felon count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2, 2015.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the ATF, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George P. Belsky, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. Mr. Fishman also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Ohio, directed by U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart, and agents of the ATF Field Division in Columbus, Ohio, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Donald Soranno.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Askin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
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Defense counsel: Justin Loughry Esq., Philadelphia