Credit: Bucks County Department of Corrections
A man from Trenton, N.J. was arrested recently for an attempted straw purchase.
Dorian Fleming, 26, was charged recently for trying to recruit Margaret Litton, 27, of Morning Glory Drive in Bristol Township, to illegally purchase a gun for resale. Litton was previously charged with several counts of records tampering, unsworn falsification to authorities, conspiracy and making false written statements. She currently is free from prison on her own recognizance and awaiting preliminary hearing.
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Flemming and two other men picked Litton and gave her approximately $600 to buy a gun, county detectives said. Flemming asked her to buy the gun and referred to it as a “toy,” according to an affidavit.
The 26-year-old told Litton he did not have the “right identification.” He said he wanted her to buy it and then sell it to another person, detectives said.
Litton, who was arrested in early April, tried three times in one day to complete a straw purchase of a gun.
A straw purchase occurs when the actual buyer of a firearm uses another person, who has a clean record, to execute the paperwork necessary to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer, according to SmartGunLaws.com.
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County detectives detailed the three attempts to purchase handguns on January 25:
- Litton and three men went to Mike’s Gun Shop on Levittown Parkway in Tullytown. She told the clerk she intended to purchase a handgun at 1:47 p.m. In response, the store clerk to her he could not sell her a firearm. He told her to come back later without her companions. Litton and the men left the store.
- Next, Litton and one of the men entered Johnson’s Gun Shop on State Road in the Croydon section of Bristol Township to try to buy a handgun. The clerk had Litton fill out state and federal sale paperwork for the gun, a 9mm pistol. An instant background check was called in by the clerk who discovered her application was marked “research.” The status means the applicant’s criminal background needs further inquiry by authorities. The two left with no gun.
- Later in the day, Litton went back to Mike’s Gun Shop store in Tullytown and attempted to purchase a firearm, again. She filled out the state and federal paperwork; her application was marked “research.” She left the store without a purchasing a gun and headed to Trenton, N.J.
In January, Governor Tom Corbett signed the “Brad Fox law.” The law, named after a Bucks County native and murder Montgomery County police officer shot to death in the line of duty, increased penalties on those convicted of straw gun purchases.
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Flemming faces several charges conspiracy and was sent to county jail on 10 percent of $100,000 bail by District Judge Robert Wagner Jr.
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