{"id":41333,"date":"2025-11-22T03:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T03:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/41333\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T03:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T03:47:07","slug":"six-people-charged-in-illegal-straw-purchasing-gun-transfers-in-allegheny-county-wpxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/41333\/","title":{"rendered":"Six people charged in illegal \u2018straw purchasing\u2019 gun transfers in Allegheny County \u2013 WPXI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. \u2014 Six people are facing charges in connection with illegal gun transfers in Allegheny County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">The Allegheny County Gun Violence Task Force seized numerous guns and charged individuals for allegedly transferring guns to people prohibited from possessing them, an act known as \u201cstraw purchasing\u201d or \u201cstraw lending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cStraw purchasing often leads to violence, and that is why my office, along with our partners, take this conduct very seriously,\u201d Attorney General Sunday said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Those charged are Leneja Cogdell, 30; Martell Herriot, 27; Deonquay Wilson, 23; Halle Sokol, 25; Deveda Horsley, 26; and Raquel Betters, 27.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Cogdell, Sokol, Horsley and Betters provided guns to current or former intimate partners and other individuals prohibited from possessing firearms, the Attorney General\u2019s Office says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Cogdell allegedly purchased seven guns and transferred them to several individuals, including a significant other and a relative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Herriot and Wilson allegedly conspired to traffic firearms to individuals who were prohibited from having them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">All but Cogdell are in custody and will be arraigned on various felonies. Cogdell has an active warrant for her arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">In all, at least 11 guns were illegally transferred or lent by the charged defendants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. \u2014 Six people are facing charges in connection with illegal gun transfers in Allegheny County.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[815,8564,1646,8565,6748,4030,2700,2663,2593,8566,31,8567,8568,8569,784,2892,1879,111,6753,8570,457,4037,1021,740,8571,7026,4369,2922,8572,783,557,8573,5541,73,75,74,206,4045,4047,7364,8574,1704,6167,2155,8575,8576,6967,2867],"class_list":["post-41333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-america","tag-apprehended","tag-arrest","tag-auto","tag-automobile","tag-blue","tag-boat","tag-car","tag-cars","tag-classic","tag-crime","tag-crime-scene","tag-crime-scene-background","tag-crime-scene-investigation","tag-criminal","tag-criminal-justice","tag-danger","tag-death","tag-emergency","tag-emergency-services-vehicle","tag-homicide","tag-illuminated","tag-investigation","tag-justice","tag-killing","tag-light","tag-lights","tag-lot","tag-motor","tag-murder","tag-old","tag-parked","tag-parking","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-police","tag-police-car","tag-red","tag-siren","tag-speed","tag-traffic","tag-transport","tag-transportation","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-usa","tag-vehicle","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41333","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=41333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}