Philadelphia Man Sentenced For Gun Trafficking Scheme

Thursday, January 16, 2025, 4:00 P.M. ET. 1 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

ALBANY, NY.- On Wednesday, a 23-year-old Philadelphia man who previously pleaded guilty to unlawfully acquiring firearms learned he would be spending nearly a year in federal prison after being sentenced in connection with his firearms “straw purchasing” scheme.   

     According to U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman, on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, Kenneth Locke, 23, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn to 10 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty plea to Making False Statements on a Federal Firearms Transaction Form.

According To The U.S. Attorney’s Office

     According to statements made in District Court and during a previous plea hearing, Locke admitted that he entered into an agreement with Rylan Peterson of Kingston, New York, and a former U.S. Marine, then living in North Carolina, to acquire six semi-automatic handguns on behalf of Oryin McLeod and other individuals residing in Kingston, New York.

     After McLeod paid Locke through Peterson, Locke purchased the firearms in December 2022 from a licensed firearms dealer in North Carolina, falsely filling out the federal firearms purchasing form that he was buying the firearms for himself. 

     After purchasing the firearms, Peterson later transported them from North Carolina to New York, providing them to McLeod and others. McLeod was subsequently arrested for possessing two of the firearms through the straw purchasing scheme.