Credit: Ed Mahon/PA Post
A Bristol Township man was sentenced to federal prison this week for an international gun trafficking scheme.
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Before U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond on Tuesday, Thomas Harris Jr., 29, of Bristol Township’s Croydon section, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $1,500 special assessment as part of an agreement between Harris and federal prosecutors.
Harris pleaded guilty in November to multiple firearms trafficking offenses.
Harris, a permanent U.S. resident who is not a citizen, purchased approximately 38 firearms in 12 transactions at two Bucks County gun shops between April 2019 and February 2020. He provided a false address on federal forms completed with the transactions, authorities said.
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The guns were then “illegally trafficked” to St. Lucia, a Caribbean island nation near South America, authorities said.
When Harris was charged in September 2020, federal officials said he did not carry the proper license to deal in firearms or possess a license to export them outside of America, authorities said.
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“One of Harris’s packages to St. Lucia was intercepted by federal agents at the warehouse of a local shipping company. Inside, 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a press release.
Harris, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his attorney, Lou Busico, had prior convictions for disorderly conduct and DUI in Bucks County and pleaded guilty to those incidents in the last decade.
Busico wrote that Harris “led a productive and law-abiding life” since coming to the country from St. Lucia for education and held good jobs at major companies. He has a longtime girlfriend and doesn’t appear to suffer from any emotional or mental health issues.
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The sentencing memo stated the weapons were being sent to Harris’ friends in St. Lucia to be resold at a “substantial profit.”
Federal authorities celebrated Harris’ sentencing for the weapons offenses.
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“By shipping high-powered firearms to a foreign nation, the defendant displayed a brazen disrespect for our laws regulating and monitoring the sale of weapons,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “Trafficking in firearms overseas is a serious federal offense, and one for which our Office will hold offenders like Harris accountable.”
“Firearms trafficking is at the forefront of ATF’s mission,” said Matthew Varisco, the special agent in charge of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) Philadelphia Field Division. “Harris’ sentencing should send the message to criminals that a blatant disregard of federal firearms laws will be investigated jointly by ATF and our local, state, and federal partners.”
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The court on Tuesday authorized the forfeiture of more than three dozen pistols and rifles.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement’s New York Field Office, the ATF, and FBI investigated the case.
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