Berks woman sentenced for role in multi-county gun trafficking network
NORRISTOWN — A Berks County woman faces a combination of jail time, house arrest and probation for illegally purchasing firearms for a multi-county gun trafficking network.
Makayla Prince, 24, of the 300 block of Sunset Road, West Reading, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6 to 23 months in the county jail after she pleaded guilty to charges of corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, making materially false written statements, illegal sale or transfer of firearms and conspiracy in connection with the gun trafficking network that operated in Montgomery, Berks, Bucks, Lancaster and Philadelphia counties between June 2019 and February 2021.
Judge Henry S. Hilles III said Prince must serve the first 30 days of the minimum sentence in jail and then she is eligible to serve the remaining five months of the minimum sentence under house arrest with electronic monitoring. Because Prince lives in Berks County, officials from the Berks County Office of Parole and Probation will supervise Prince during the house arrest period, the judge said.
Hilles also ordered Prince to complete two years’ probation following parole, meaning she will be under court supervision for about four years.
Prince, formerly of the first block of Monroe Street, Mohnton, was one of 14 people charged in February 2021 for roles in the gun trafficking organization. Prosecutors alleged the network illegally obtained and resold a total of 43 firearms using straw purchase schemes in the five-county area, putting guns in the hands of people who are not allowed by law to buy their own guns. Only 13 of the 43 guns have been recovered to date.
A straw purchase occurs when someone who is legally allowed to purchase a firearm purchases one and then gives it illegally to someone who is not permitted to purchase that firearm.
With the charges, prosecutors alleged Prince purchased four firearms on behalf of the gun trafficking organization led by Alexander Aaron Smith, 22, of the 3000 block of Jolly Road, Plymouth Township, and Daveese Smith, 23, formerly of the 800 block of Smith Street, Norristown.
Alexander Smith, who authorities said played a lead role in the organization, previously was sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to corrupt organizations and related charges.
Daveese Smith, who prosecutors described as another “mastermind” behind the organization, previously was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to corrupt organizations and weapons-related offenses.
Several others involved in the organization previously pleaded guilty, admitting to their roles as straw purchasers for the network.
The investigation began in 2020 when detectives with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Violent Crime Unit began tracking the multiple purchases of firearms by some of the conspirators through the state’s Electronic Record of Sale (EROS) system and by reviewing state and federal gun purchase paperwork at gun stores. Detectives also used surveillance, interviews, information from law enforcement agencies, cellphone data and social media analysis to identify the suspects, according to court papers.
“One illegal purchasing spree conducted by members of this organization yielded nine handguns in eight days,” according to the criminal complaint filed by Montgomery County Detective Jeffrey Koch, Montgomery Township Detective Todd Walter and state police Trooper Brian Kedra. “The purpose of this corrupt organization was to illegally obtain and distribute numerous firearms to others.”
The investigation was led by the Montgomery County Violent Crime Unit, Montgomery Township Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police and the Plymouth Township Police Department, along with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Norristown Police Department, FBI, Bucks and Montgomery County Safe Streets Task Force, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force, Pottstown Police Department, Hatfield Township Police Department and Berks County Detectives.
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