Alleged members of Paterson gun trafficking ring indicted, AG announces
State authorities announced Thursday the indictment of 15 alleged members of a Paterson gun trafficking ring that brought more than 120 firearms from South Carolina to New Jersey, where they were illegally sold on the city’s streets.
The 39-count indictment, handed up two weeks ago by a state grand jury, charges each of the members with racketeering, conspiracy and various other offenses, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said at a Thursday news conference in Paterson.
The alleged ringleader, Travis Thomas, 31, of Lamar, South Carolina, is also charged with leading a gun trafficking network, promoting organized street crime and more than two dozen other weapons offenses.
Platkin said the ring was a significant supplier of illegal firearms into the city. Authorities have recovered about a dozen of the guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle Thomas allegedly had with him when police first arrested him in December 2021, Platkin said.
Some of the firearms had already been used in other crimes, he added.
“We know the vast majority of guns used in the commission of crimes in Paterson and throughout the state of New Jersey did not originate here,” Platkin said. “Which is why it’s critical that we stop the flow of illegal firearms into our state and our communities. And it's critical that we hold accountable those who would profit off this bloodshed.”
Authorities have arrested five South Carolinians for their alleged role in the organization, as well as nine Paterson residents: Yaquin Perry, 37; Marquetta Wilson, 33; William Thomas, 40; Kamar Walker, 21; Tyquan Evans, 38; Kyziek McCaskill, 33; Karie Washington, 28; Neilzhon Williams, 23; and Kyeem Dowell, 26.
Attorneys representing the defendants could not be reached late Thursday.
The attorney general said Thomas — who has family in Paterson — called on a handful of buyers in South Carolina once a month to purchase an array of firearms that he could bring to Paterson and sell. He also allegedly assembled a network of nine middlemen, who shopped Thomas’ guns to potential customers in the city.
State Police detectives arrested him on Dec. 10, 2021, as he arrived in Paterson on a bus with two handguns and an assault rifle he planned to sell, said Pearl Minato, director of the state’s Division of Criminal Justice.
Thomas routinely sold his guns for three times more than he bought them for, authorities said. He also allegedly trafficked high-capacity magazines and hollow-point bullets.
Evidence allegedly found on Thomas’ cellphone and Facebook account revealed he’d been running the ring since December 2018, Minato said.
State Police officers have arrested all of Thomas’ conspirators except for a South Carolina man who remains a fugitive, the attorney general said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ gun trafficking ring members indicted, AG says
