BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Two Alabama men were sentenced Tuesday in a scheme to “straw purchase” firearms, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosives and Firearms Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson.
According to Escalona, Jaqorium Island-Galvin, 25, of Bessemer, was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by three years supervised release. Between May 2020 and May 2021, Island-Galvin partnered with Brianna Washington to purchase at least 18 firearms from a federal firearms licensee in the Northern District of Alabama. Washington falsified documents by stating she was the buyer when she was buying the guns for Island-Galvin.
Island-Galvin bought the guns for the purpose of trafficking them to the Chicago area. At least four of the 18 were sold in the Chicago area. On June 16, 2021, one of the firearms trafficking by Island-Galvin was recovered by Bolingbrook Police Department in Illinois at the residence of a known convicted felon and drug trafficker. He pleaded guilty in June 2022. Washington is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27.
Christian Coleman, 28, of Birmingham, was sentenced to 10 months in prison followed by three years on supervised release. On May 1, 2020, Coleman purchased a Barrett .50 caliber rifle from a federal firearms licensee in the Northern District of Alabama. He also falsified documents by saying he was the buyer when he was actually buying the rifle to sell it. An individual bought the rifle from Coleman for $10,900.