The firearms were recovered from gang members and domestic abusers
BOSTON - A Framingham man was sentenced on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, for selling guns locally that were purchased in Pennsylvania.
Mitchell Daniells, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole to 97 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In June 2019, Daniells was convicted by a federal jury of dealing in firearms without a license and unlawful possession of a firearm while felony charges were pending.
In January, February and March 2015, Daniells and a straw buyer acting at Daniells’ request, purchased firearms at several gun stores in Pennsylvania. Daniells transported the guns to Massachusetts, where he unlawfully sold them. Daniells obliterated many of the firearms’ serial numbers, but investigators were able to restore them, permitting the firearms to be traced back to the gun stores. While the government introduced evidence at trial that Daniells trafficked 10 guns in the three month time period, the jury also heard that he was selling guns for more than three years, since 2012.
Daniells sold the guns “on the street" to drug dealers and gang members, while other guns ended up in the hands of domestic abusers. For example, Demetrius Williams, a convicted leader of the Columbia Point street gang, was arrested with a gun that traced back to Daniells. Williams’s co-defendant, Benjamin Figeroa, also received a gun from Daniells. Most recently, police recovered a gun traced back to Daniells during a domestic abuse arrest in July 14, 2018.
Daniells was also convicted of possession of a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol purchased for him by the straw buyer on March 27, 2015, and sold by Daniells to a government’s witness for $800 three days later.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Kelly Brady, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Glenn Mackinlay and Timothy Moran of Lelling’s Organized Crime and Gang Unit prosecuted the case.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
