The Eastern District of Pennsylvania ( a judicial district of the United States of America) announced Wednesday that 27-year-old Thomas Harris Jr. of Croydon, Pennsylvania was arrested and charged by indictment with multiple firearms trafficking offenses stemming from a scheme to sell guns to a buyer in Saint Lucia.
In a statement, the agency said that Harris Jr. was charged with “making false statements to a federal firearm licensee, dealing in firearms without a license, delivery of firearms to a common carrier without written notice, and smuggling goods from the United States.”
It further states: “The Indictment alleges that Harris purchased approximately 38 firearms in 12 transactions at two Bucks County, Pennsylvania , gun shops between April 20, 2019, and February 15, 2020, and provided a false address as his place of residence on the required federal forms that he completed during each transaction.
“It is further alleged that the defendant then illegally trafficked, and attempted to traffic, the guns to Saint Lucia, a sovereign island nation in the West Indies, despite his not having a license to deal in firearms nor a license to export them as required by law. He also allegedly failed to notify the shipping company he used that his shipments contained firearms, as required by law.”
The authorities indicated that one of Harris’ suspected packages to Saint Lucia was intercepted by federal agents at the warehouse of a shipping company in the USA. Concealed in household items such as packages of diapers, cat litter and laundry detergent, the agents found “seven Glock semiautomatic pistols, one Ruger semiautomatic pistol, two AK-47 pattern pistols, two AK-47 pattern rifles, two AR-15 lower receivers, two AR-15 upper receivers, ten high capacity Glock ammunition magazines, seven additional assorted ammunition magazines, and 815 rounds of ammunition.”
The agency continued: “Harris allegedly used the alias “Lance Brown” when he presented this package to the shipping company for shipment to Saint Lucia, and he allegedly falsely told a shipping company representative that the package contained household items. After the defendant left this package with the shippers, he traveled to Saint Lucia himself in March 2020. He remained there until returning to the United States on July 25, 2020, when he was arrested at an airport in New York.”
Commenting on the indictment, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams stated: “As alleged in the indictment charging him with firearms trafficking offenses, Harris has a brazen disrespect for our laws meant to regulate and monitor the sale of weapons. After sending his most recent shipment of guns overseas he also left the country for a few months, but all that did was postpone the inevitable. If you are charged in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with a federal offense, there is no place to hide, here or abroad. We will not rest until we find you and hold you accountable.”
If convicted, Harris Jr. faces a maximum possible sentence of 80 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $3,750,000 fine, and a $1,500 special assessment. The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joseph A. LaBar and U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division Trial Attorney Michael E. Eaton.
The agency also noted that an indictment or criminal complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
