Atlantic County Man Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison for Trafficking and Unlawfully Possessing Firearms
CAMDEN, N.J. – An Atlantic County, New Jersey, man with five prior felony convictions was sentenced today to 151 months in prison for illegally selling and possessing multiple firearms, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Brandon Groce, 37, of Newtonville, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with one count of illegally engaging in the business of dealing in firearms and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Judge Kugler imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On six different dates between February 2019 and September 2019, Groce met with an individual at a parking lot in Paulsboro, New Jersey, to sell firearms. Groce sold at least one firearm and ammunition for cash at each meeting. Groce lacked a license to sell firearms. At the time of the sales, Groce had previously been convicted in New Jersey Superior Court of five felonies, including a firearms offense, resisting arrest, and three controlled substances offenses.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Groce to three years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the Newark Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
