Philadelphia Resident Sentenced on Gun Trafficking Conviction

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Kenneth Locke, age 23, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 10 months in jail for conspiring with others to unlawfully obtain firearms from a licensed dealer by making false statements, also known as "straw purchasing" firearms.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Bryan Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), made the announcement.

In previously pleading guilty, Locke admitted that he entered into an agreement with Rylan Peterson, a native of Kingston, New York, and a former Marine then living in North Carolina, to acquire six semi-automatic handguns on behalf of Oryin McLeod and others residing in Kingston. After McLeod paid Locke through Peterson, Locke purchased the firearms in December 2022 from a licensed dealer in North Carolina, falsely representing at the time of the purchase that he was acquiring the firearms for himself. Peterson later transported the firearms from North Carolina to New York where he provided them to McLeod and others. McLeod was subsequently arrested for unlawful possession of two of the firearms acquired through the straw purchasing scheme.

Senior United States District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn also imposed a 3-year term of post-incarceration supervised release. McLeod was previously sentenced to 34 months in prison for his role in unlawfully acquiring the firearms. Peterson is set to be sentenced on March 26, 2025.

ATF and the Kingston Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin C. Segovia prosecuted the case.