Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
A Philadelphia man has been charged following a multi-agency investigation into straw purchases of guns in Bucks County stores.
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On Wednesday, Leonard Truesdale, 24, was preliminarily arraigned before District Judge Brian Marriott Wednesday on 21 counts each of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, criminal conspiracy to make false statements on firearm purchase forms, and selling or transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person.
A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) task force was involved in the case. The Bucks County Detectives, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, and the Pennsylvania State Police also investigated.
A traffic stop by police in Philadelphia in February 2021 led to a 9-mm Smith and Wesson pistol being located. The gun in the possession of a 19-year-old man who was not allowed to have it, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.
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An investigation into how the man got his hands on the gun that had not been reported stolen or missing was launched, authorities said.
It was found that Truesdale bought the gun in December 2020 at Tanner Sports Center in Warwick Township, authorities said.
Further investigation found Truesdale bought 21 guns between July 2020 and March 2021 at Tanner Sports Center, Bunker Gun Shop in Warminster, Bunker Gun Shop 2 in Chalfont, Auger Precision Firearms in Bristol Township’s Croydon section, and Delia’s Gun Shop in Philadelphia, authorities said.
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“On March 13, 2021, Truesdale and two other men arrived at Bunker Gun Shop 2 in Chalfont. Truesdale attempted to buy two guns, but he was informed his background check would be delayed and he would need to come back later to complete the purchase. One of the males with him purchased a .45-caliber pistol. Two days later, Truesdale returned but only purchased one of the guns and a box of ammunition,” a statement from Bucks County prosecutors said.
Since then, six of the guns Truesdale bought have been found—four of them in Philadelphia and the other two in the custody of convicted felons in Delaware and Bensalem Township, authorities said.
Truesdale “has numerous indicators of being a straw purchaser, including but not limited to; a sizeable amount of firearms procured within a short amount of time, purchasing the same exact firearm on several occasions, multiple purchases of firearms on the same day on more than one occasion, the presence of another person(s) during the sale of a firearm(s) and the recoveries of the firearms by law enforcement,” investigators said in the criminal complaint.
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Truesdale was sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bail.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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