Ex-county workers get prison for illegal gun sales
CLEVELAND (WJW) — A federal judge has sentenced two former Cuyahoga County juvenile corrections officers to prison for illegal firearms sales. Some of the guns sold ended up on the streets and were used in crimes, authorities said.
Willie Earl Jackson, 26, of Cleveland, and Shane Plats, 31, of Ashtabula, both formerly worked in the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court as corrections and detentions officers, according to a Monday news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Authorities said Plats sold at least seven 9-millimeter pistols to Jackson in May and July of 2023 — guns he had previously bought from a federally licensed dealer — knowing that Jackson would resell them to others. Plats later admitted he sold the guns for profit, and without a license, according to the release.
That process is known as “straw purchasing.”
Then, the following June and August, Jackson sold more than 35 guns to undercover agents posing as street buyers. They included semi-automatic rifles and pistols, at least one of which had an “obliterated” serial number. The deals were often done from his car in parking lots and public spaces, according to the release.
He also offered to sell switches which can make a semi-automatic firearm fully automatic and to remove serial numbers from the guns he sold. Ballistics records from one of the rifles sold shows it was connected to three separate shootings, according to the release.
It’s not the first time that guns Jackson had purchased were involved in crimes, according to the release. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives previously investigated Jackson and wrote him in 2022, warning him that straw purchasing was illegal.
Jackson pleaded guilty to selling firearms without a federal license and trafficking in firearms and was sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Plats pleaded guilty to selling firearms without a license and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.
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Jackson and Plats were two of more than 65 people charged by federal authorities following a three-month violent crime reduction initiative in Cleveland last summer, led by the ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to the release.
Their two cases are the first in Ohio’s Northern District federal court to be sentenced under new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Joe Biden signed in June 2022, according to the DOJ. The statute specifically targets firearms trafficking and straw purchasing.
“It makes crystal clear that anyone who tries to make money by selling firearms or otherwise selling guns regularly must obtain a federal firearms license and run required background checks on those making the purchase. It also will help reduce the temptation for those who may legally purchase firearms to buy and then sell them to just anyone,” Rebecca Lutzko, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, is quoted in the release. “Unfortunately, we often see firearms, initially bought through legal channels, later recovered in connection with a crime. We are confident this statute will help put a stop to that.”
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