TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni
announced that a Pennsylvania man has pleaded
guilty to a gun charge in connection with
a semi-automatic rifle that was illegally
sold in Trenton. The case resulted from the
state’s historic partnership with the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives to trace guns seized in criminal
investigations.
According
to Director Gramiccioni, Nicholas James Titus,
40, of Morrisville, Pa., pleaded guilty Friday,
May 8, to third-degree unlawful possession
of a weapon before Superior Court Judge Robert
C. Billmeier in Mercer County.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Titus be sentenced to a period of incarceration
in the county jail as a condition of a term
of probation. Deputy Attorney General Philip
Aronow took the plea for the Division of Criminal
Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
Judge Billmeier scheduled sentencing for Titus
for Aug. 6.
On
Oct. 11, 2005, Trenton Police arrested a Trenton
man on Chestnut Avenue and seized a loaded
CETME .308-caliber semi-automatic rifle. The
man, Anthony Bayshawn Ford, was prosecuted
for weapons offenses by the Mercer County
Prosecutor’s Office and sentenced to
four years in state prison in December 2005
in connection with the rifle.
An
ATF check revealed that the gun was purchased
by a Morrisville, Pa., man on May 30, 2003
at a Bucks County sporting goods store. State
Police task force members determined that
the purchaser, a friend of Titus, provided
the gun to Titus, who sold it in Trenton.
Titus
was one of five defendants indicted in May
2008 as a result of investigations conducted
by a New Jersey State Police - ATF task force
in connection with the NJ Trace program. All
of the investigations involved guns that were
seized by the Trenton Police Department and
traced to gun shops and purchasers in Pennsylvania.
“We
are working hard to stop the deadly flow of
illegal guns that are trafficked into New
Jersey from outside our borders and end up
in the hands of violent gang members,”
said Attorney General Milgram. “Every
gun we recover is potentially a life saved
in our state.”
The
NJ Trace program, unveiled in 2007 by the
ATF, Gov. Jon S. Corzine, Attorney General
Milgram and State Police Superintendent Rick
Fuentes, permits law enforcement agencies
statewide to trace guns using ATF’s
nationwide e-Trace database. The program was
the first of its kind in the nation. Milgram
issued a directive in February 2008 ordering
all local police departments in New Jersey
to report information on guns used in crimes
to the State Police and ATF using a new state
computer program called the NJ Trace System.
Milgram
and Fuentes also established a New Jersey
State Police - ATF Violent Gang Task Force,
which assigns State Police detectives to the
ATF to work with cooperating law enforcement
agencies to trace guns that are linked to
crimes or seized from drug dealers and gang
members.
Titus
and the other defendants indicted in May 2008
were charged as a result of investigations
conducted by State Police detectives and a
Mercer County sheriff’s officer assigned
to the task force, assisted by the ATF Trenton
Field Office. They worked cooperatively with
the Trenton Police Department, the New Jersey
Division of Criminal Justice and the Office
of Bucks County District Attorney Michelle
Henry.
According
to ATF statistics, approximately 72 percent
of the guns recovered by police in New Jersey
in 2007 and traced to their state of origin
came from outside of New Jersey. Approximately
14 percent – the largest share of any
other state – came from Pennsylvania.
The
investigations were conducted by State Police
- ATF task force members Detective Sgt. Eric
Barlow and Detective Brian Duross of the New
Jersey State Police, Mercer County Sheriff’s
Officer Pablo Santiago, and Resident Agent
in Charge Essam Rabadi of the ATF Trenton
Field Office. The cases were presented to
the state grand jury by Deputy Attorneys General
Andrew Butchko, Philip Aronow, Suzanne McElwreath
and Daniel Bornstein.
The
charges remain pending against the other four
defendants who were indicted in May 2008 by
the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs &
Organized Crime Bureau. The indictments are
posted with the May 29, 2008 release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
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