By Craig Anderson

DOVER — Let the buyer beware, Dover Police Chief Thomas Johnson stressed Wednesday.

The chief cautioned against purchasing a gun for someone prohibited from possessing one.

Chief Johnson spoke before the media as the Delaware Department of Justice announced a slew of arrests and dozens of felony charges connected to alleged straw purchases in the Dover area.

The chief placed his attention on would-be buyers and the life-altering choices they may be faced with.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being in a relationship with an individual that is struggling to do the right thing in life,” he said at the Dover Police Department.

“In fact, you might be a role model or a support for that person. However, you may come to find that you are asked to do something and then you have to make a choice.”

And if that moment comes, the chief cautioned, “Read the writing on the wall. This country is not prepared to see the kind of gun-related fatalities continue in perpetuity.

“We are going to react to this. We will remain hyper focused on gun-related crime and all the things that come with it.

“And as someone that you care about asks you to commit a felony, you have to say no. You cannot become a part of the cycle of straw purchases.”

If an illegal purchase is made, “You will become an accessory to the harm that follows.

“If you don’t say yes, if you don’t walk into that gun shop, if you don’t sign that piece of paper, you get to keep your life the way it is right now. You do not have to join the ranks of felony defendants possibly in federal court.”

The DOJ announced that nine defendants are facing a combined 77 charges, including 76 felonies connected to the purchase of at least 12 firearms in six separate transactions in the Dover area. Deputy Attorney General Kevin Smith said four to five firearms remain sought.

One firearm involved was passed to a gang member, the DOJ said, and another was involved in a shooting incident.

“There’s no question that guns — and by extension gun trafficking — are driving violent crime in Delaware,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said.

“Straw purchases may appear at face value to be a nonviolent offense, but the reality is that they are deadly. Guns are meant to do one thing, period, and that’s what’s at stake here.

“These are challenging investigations but they are critical to the safety of this state, and I’m grateful that state, local and federal law enforcement partners are focusing on disrupting gun trafficking.

“We will continue to make these felonies a priority and to fight for policy change that prevents them from happening in the first place.”

Mr. Smith said the alleged offenses occurred between June and December 2021. Some were made at the time of the incidents, others shortly afterward, some made recently, the DOJ said.

According to the DOJ, investigation determined that co-defendants Nassir Williams, Jyheim Spencer and John Lassiter allegedly found persons over age 21 who would buy firearms for them and their associates.

A DOJ news release alleged that the trio “would direct straw purchasers to obtain a credit card, order firearms from an online retailer, and then have them delivered to a federal firearms licensee in Delaware.

“The purchaser would then retrieve the firearms, keeping one for themselves as ‘payment’ for the transaction, and turning the rest over to (the trio), who in turn would sell them to their associates.”

The DOJ said Mr. Williams and Mr. Lassiter are being held at Sussex Correctional Institution on $60,000 and $30,000 cash bail, respectively. Mr. Spencer was taken into custody Wednesday and will be arraigned before a Superior Court commissioner.

The arrests were part of a combined effort among the DOJ; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Dover Police Department Drugs, Vice, and Organized Crime Unit; and Delaware State Police.

Ms. Jennings detailed the basics of a straw purchase, saying, “When you look at the dynamic of a straw purchase, the purchase itself is dependent upon the fact that somebody in the equation can pass a background investigation.

“A legitimate identification, state-issued ID or some other federally acceptable form of identification will get them through and allow the process to appear legitimate.

“But at the end of the day, a lot of people involved in straw purchase indictments are walking into the justice system for the first time because they had no recognition of the consequences that were awaiting them when they were gonna get caught and several people are finding that out the hard way right now.”