NORRISTOWN \u2014 A Philadelphia man is awaiting sentencing after he admitted to illegally possessing a gun after it was found in a vehicle linked to him and parked in a parking lot of a hotel in Lower Merion Township.<\/p>\n
Delshawn Markeese Compton, 33, of the 200 block of East Haines Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a felony charge of person not to possess a firearm in connection with the Aug. 10, 2024, incident in the Bala Cynwyd section of Lower Merion.<\/p>\n
Judge Risa Vetri Ferman deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Compton, who will undergo drug and alcohol evaluations.<\/p>\n
Compton faces a possible maximum sentence of 3 to 7 years in prison on the charge.<\/p>\n
Compton remains free on bail pending his sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n
The investigation began about 1:52 a.m. Aug. 10, 2024, when Lower Merion police, while patrolling the area near the Residence Inn in the 600 block of Righters Ferry Road \u201cdue to an increase in vehicle thefts,\u201d spotted a suspicious white Ford Taurus with tinted windows in the parking lot, according to a criminal complaint filed by Lower Merion Detective James Black.<\/p>\n
As the officer entered the parking lot, the Taurus quickly exited and traveled south on Righters Ferry Road, where police lost sight of it, according to court papers.<\/p>\n
At 4:07 a.m., police returned to the parking lot and once again observed the Ford Taurus, parked and unoccupied, at the location. Police noticed the vehicle displayed a temporary registration and determined it was a fraudulent registration plate. When police researched the vehicle identification number, they discovered it had been reported stolen out of Cheltenham Township, according to the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n
Police contacted a towing company to remove the vehicle and, prior to towing it, police observed a black semiautomatic pistol in plain view on the floor of the front driver\u2019s side, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
The firearm was seized and identified as a Polymer80 handgun, or ghost gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe firearm was loaded with a full magazine,\u201d Black alleged.<\/p>\n
During a search of the vehicle, police also found a wallet that contained a learner\u2019s permit and multiple debit and credit cards belonging to Compton. A small bag of marijuana was found next to the wallet in the center console, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough subsequent investigation, it was determined that Delshawn Compton was the operator of the Ford Taurus and had parked it in the lot of the Residence Inn,\u201d Black alleged.<\/p>\n
The investigation determined that Compton had a criminal history that prohibited him from possessing a firearm, detectives alleged.<\/p>\n
Other charges of receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, unauthorized use of an automobile, driving under suspension, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia are slated to be dismissed against Compton at the time of sentencing.<\/p>\n
Assistant District Attorney Courtney McMonagle is handling the case. Defense lawyer Abigail Silverman Leeds represented Compton during the court proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORRISTOWN \u2014 A Philadelphia man is awaiting sentencing after he admitted to illegally possessing a gun after it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[46,182,183,185,184,186,139,28,1015],"class_list":["post-320631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-courts","tag-local-news","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-mer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}