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TRENTON
–Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that a Trenton man was sentenced
to prison today for leading a network that
trafficked guns to Trenton from the Eastern
Shore of Virginia. The defendant was linked
to guns recovered in connection with several
homicide investigations and a narcotics
investigation.
According
to Director Taylor, Trayle Beasley, 30,
of Trenton, was sentenced to 12 years in
state prison by Superior Court Judge Pedro
J. Jimenez Jr. in Mercer County. Beasley
pleaded guilty on April 25 to a first-degree
charge of leader of a firearms trafficking
network, admitting that he trafficked approximately
50 guns to Trenton from Virginia, including
at least one AK-47 assault weapon. The charge
was contained in a May 21, 2010 state grand
jury indictment that also charged four other
men. Beasley also pleaded guilty on April
25 to a charge of unlawful possession of
a handgun, which was filed by the Mercer
County Prosecutor’s Office in connection
with an armed robbery in East Windsor in
March 2009. He was sentenced today on that
charge to three years in state prison without
possibility of parole, to be served concurrently
with the 12-year sentence.
Deputy
Attorney General Russell Curley prosecuted
the gun trafficking case for the Division
of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau. The investigation was spearheaded
by the New Jersey State Police - ATF Joint
Firearms Task Force and the Division of
Criminal Justice. The task force led by
the New Jersey State Police and U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives
also includes the Trenton Police, Mercer
County Sheriff’s Office and Ocean
County Prosecutor’s Office. Those
agencies worked with the Hamilton Police
(Mercer County), East Windsor Police and
Eastern Shore (Va.) Drug Task Force, including
the Virginia State Police and Northampton
and Accomack County Sheriff’s Departments.
The
weapons linked to Beasley included the gun
used in the gang-related drive-by shooting
on June 7, 2009 that killed 13-year-old
Tamrah Leonard during a block party in Trenton,
and the gun used in the murder of Tracey
Crews, 23, inside his home in Trenton on
Sept. 12, 2008.
“The
devastation caused in our communities by
guns illegally trafficked into New Jersey
is illustrated with heartbreaking clarity
by this defendant, whose guns cut short
the lives of an innocent teenage girl caught
in a drive-by shooting and a young father
ambushed in his home,” said Attorney
General Dow. “This sentence puts Beasley
behind bars where he cannot peddle his deadly
wares.”
“This
sentence sends a strong message to interstate
gun traffickers: We have you in our sights,”
said Director Taylor. “If we see a
constellation of crimes involving guns traced
to a common origin, we will investigate
you, identify you as the source of those
illicit guns, and aggressively prosecute
you.”
“This
investigation and prosecution is another
endorsement of a statewide strategy that
targets gun violence from two directions,
focusing upon both the felons who use the
guns in their hands and also upon the criminal
profiteers who illegally put those guns
in their hands,” said Colonel Rick
Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey
State Police.
“ATF
views firearms trafficking as a very serious
threat to the security and safety of our
communities,” said Special Agent in
Charge Matthew W. Horace of ATF’s
Newark Field Division. “Everyone involved
in this investigation supports that view.
The defendants in this case and the criminal
firearms will never be used to commit violent
crimes or other illegal acts. We are pleased
with the investigation, the commitment of
the prosecutors and the outcome.”
In
pleading guilty to the leader charge, Beasley
admitted that he solicited individuals in
the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where he
had lived, to provide him with guns, which
he brought to New Jersey to sell illegally.
Beasley sold guns to drug dealers and gang
members in Trenton. He preferred to deal
in revolvers because they do not leave shell
casings at crime scenes. He was indicted
in connection with 12 guns, including eight
handguns, two shotguns and two rifles. Five
of the guns were seized by the Maryland
State Police on Nov. 16, 2008, when they
stopped Beasley’s car as he drove
through Maryland. Beasley served a one-year
prison sentence in Maryland for unlawful
possession of those guns. The other seven
guns were recovered by police in New Jersey
in connection with crimes and traced through
the NJ Trace program, a first-in-the-nation
partnership of the Attorney General’s
Office, State Police and ATF to trace crime
guns recovered in New Jersey using ATF’s
national eTrace system. The Attorney General
requires information on all guns seized
by police in New Jersey be entered into
eTrace within 24 hours.
Two
of the other men indicted with Beasley have
pleaded guilty. Bobby Lee Henderson, 24,
of Townsend, Va., and Larry Nottingham,
28, of Eastville, Va., each pleaded guilty
to unlawful possession of a weapon. They
were sentenced on May 3 to probation plus
the jail time they had already served from
the time of their arrests last year to sentencing.
Charges are pending against Amoi Smith,
21, of Cranbury, and Johnathan Johnson,
28, of Cape Charles, Va. It is alleged that
Johnson would purchase or gather weapons
for Beasley or would coordinate meetings
for Beasley, during which Beasley would
purchase weapons from others in the Eastern
Shore. Smith allegedly traveled with Beasley
on trips to get guns. Those men are presumed
innocent until proven guilty.
Supervising
Deputy Attorney General Andrew M. Butchko
presented the case to the state grand jury
for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau. Attorney General
Dow thanked the supervisors and agents of
ATF who conducted the investigation, as
well as all of the members of the State
Police - ATF Joint Firearms Task Force and
other participating agencies, including
these members of the New Jersey State Police:
Detective Sgt. Eric Barlow, Detective Sgt.
Brian Duross, Detective Brian Ruane and
Detective Marc Friedenberger. She also credited
Detective Gary Britton of the Trenton Police,
Detective Jeff Dorian of the East Windsor
Police, and members of the Eastern Shore
Drug Task Force, including Scott Wade of
the Virginia State Police, Lt. Timothy Reibel
of the Virginia State Police, Detective
Steve Lewis of the Northampton County Sheriff’s
Department, and Detective Wayne Greer of
the Accomack County Sheriff’s Department.
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