SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A Sacramento man was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for leading a gun dealing ring that illegally sold more than 500 firearms in California, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Grant.
Jerrell Lawson, 35, according to court documents, arranged to buy more than 500 firearms in Georgia and ship them into California, where his sub-distributors sold them on the streets between November 2019 and March 2022.
Court Officials say, Lawson and his co-conspirators paid more than $300-thousand to purchase those firearms and he would broker firearms transactions in Georgia over the internet.
Court records state that co-defendant Malek Williams, a Georgia resident with a license to carry a concealed firearm, would pick up firearms in person and mail them to various locations in California at Lawson’s direction.
Authorities say some of the firearms went to people who are prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions and that some of the guns were also particularly dangerous, including machine guns and guns with drums designed to hold dozens of rounds of ammunition, according to court documents.
Law enforcement says the investigation began when a firearm used in a violent shooting in California was traced to Georgia, then to Lawson’s organization, where they learned he and his co-conspirators used coded language to traffic firearms and moved money using a variety of financial institutions.
In August 2023, a grand jury charged Lawson and 9 co-defendants with various firearms offenses relating to this interstate firearm dealing ring, according to court documents.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region Cross-Jurisdictional Firearms Trafficking Strike Force Initiative and other agencies investigated the case.
Authorities say Lawson was convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully deal in firearms, unlawfully dealing in firearms, transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident, unlawful mailing of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm and will receive a sentence of 17 years and 5 months in prison.