Man arrested after police found ‘ghost guns’ in Wilkes-Barre
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — One person is behind bars in Luzerne County after District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and police say they found illegal guns in a Wilkes-Barre apartment.
At a press conference Monday at the Luzerne County Courthouse, the DA, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Wilkes-Barre Police announced they arrested Jose Rodriguez, who they believe was building illegal guns
“Just lowers, they are firearm lowers and I could put together pretty easily, and six guns that would’ve been on the street with no serial numbers,” said ATF Agent Joseph Price.
Police began their investigation after a civilian tip.
“March 2, there was a civilian in Plains Township who contacted police because he found in a dumpster what he believed to be suspicious materials,” Sanguedolce explained.
Those suspicious materials were “ghost gun” parts.
“Ghost guns” are illegally manufactured guns created from 3D printers and parts ordered from the internet that have no serial numbers and can’t be tracked.
“The reason they’re so dangerous is because they can get into the hands of people without going through the proper channels, but no background check, and also, they aren’t serialized so they’re untraceable,” Sanguedolce continued.
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According to the DA, Jose Rodriguez was arrested, and multiple different parts of “ghost guns” and a 3D printer inside the apartment were confiscated.
“He is not supposed to have this at all,” Agent Price said.
During the press conference at the courthouse, The DA said that the person arrested had a criminal history.
“The investigation also revealed that the person had a significant history of felonies, was not to be in possession of firearms, including these pieces of firearms, that he was printing with a 3D plastic printer, and that he was in the process of basically making arrangements to sell these guns to people who were also not permitted possess firearms,” Sanguedolce added.
The “ghost guns” also have interchangeable parts, the criminals who use them can simply destroy and replace the parts of the weapon that can link a bullet to them.
“With the interchangeable parts, being the barrels and things like that, even if we got the ballistics from the slug or the casing, it would be traced back, but not to any particular firearm,” Sanguedolce stated.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Marc Powell tells the I-Team the investigation is ongoing and he expects to amend the criminal complaint this week.
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