(File Photo of a Gavel)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Allegheny County, PA) Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, along with the Allegheny County Gun Violence Task Force and other western Pennsylvania partners, recently announced charges against 12 people regarding straw purchases and other illegal transfers and possession of firearms.
Nineteen-year-old Kyree McCray was among those charged and in addition to firearms offenses, he is charged with possession of child sexual abuse material.
Twenty-one-year-old Robert Crowley, who is a close acquaintance of McCray, is also charged with felony carrying a firearm without a license, and related offenses for illegal transfer of another firearm.
McCray and Crowley were both denied bail at recent arraignments, and the duo was each cited by the magisterial district judge as a “danger to the community.”
24-year-old Makai Kenny was also considered a “danger to the community” by that same judge, and he is charged with illegal transfers of at least six firearms he purchased, but were recovered by police at crime scenes or in someone else’s possession.
Nine other defendants are charged with illegal possession or transfer of firearms, conspiracy, or related offenses.
Efforts are ongoing to trace and recover all the firearms, and additional charges may be filed.
These were the other nine individuals that were charged:
- Davar Reid, 22, of Turtle Creek
- Sharon Gore, 42, (Reid’s mother-in-law), Turtle Creek
- Carley Chedwick, 25, West Mifflin
- Aaron B. Ridgely, 28, Homestead
- Shelly Bonacci, 39, Duquesne
- Shawn M. Mason, 32, Penn Hills
- Joni Atkinson, 32, Pittsburgh
- Lavandra Carpenter, 29, Pittsburgh
- Ethan Drolz, 23, Verona
McCray and Crowley were taken into custody last month at 325 Albert Street.
Ammunition, several handguns, magazines, and accessories, which included a muzzle break and speed loader, were recovered.
Kenney was identified as a straw purchaser after a shooting investigation on Constance Street in Pittsburgh.