A Bayonne man received a six-year prison sentence last week for trafficking ghost guns, as well as possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Corey Jenkins Jr., 31, of Paterson, was sentenced today to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release; Richard Mullane, 27, of Bayonne, was sentenced on June 5th to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised release; and Savion Clyburn, 21, of Paterson, was sentenced on May 30th to five years in prison and three years of supervised release, Sellinger said in a statement.
The defendants previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams to one count of conspiracy to engage in unlicensed dealing of firearms and one count of engaging in unlicensed dealing of firearms.
Additionally, Jenkins pleaded guilty to one count of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and Mullane pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
Beginning in December 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with state and local law enforcement agencies, began investigating a firearms trafficking network, operating largely in Paterson and Bayonne, that included Clyburn, Jenkins, and Mullane, among others, according to court documents.
During December 2022 and January 2023, law enforcement conducted controlled purchases which resulted in the recovery of over a dozen firearms.
Law enforcement recovered additional firearms during the execution of search warrants on January 30th, 2023, including a loaded personally made firearm (PMF) that Jenkins threw out of a window of his home upon realizing that law enforcement was nearby.
While examining electronic devices seized from Mullane’s home on January 30th, 2023, pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, law enforcement officers discovered more than 600 images of child pornography.
Julian Santiago, of Jersey City, who was charged last year with the three aforementioned men, has not been sentenced yet.
Sellinger credited special agents of ATF, postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Passaic Police Department, and the Paterson Police Department, with the investigation leading to the sentencings.
He also thanked the Elizabeth, Plainfield, Hillside, Bayonne and East Orange Police Departments, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the New Jersey State Police, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
