NORRISTOWN — A Pottstown man admitted to a straw purchase scheme during which he bought eight weapons at gun stores in Chester and Berks counties and lied on required paperwork claiming the guns were for him when he was actually buying them for others who were prohibited from possessing guns.
Brandon Otter, 23, of the unit block of Prince Street, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to multiple felony counts of making materially false written statements on federal firearms purchase forms in connection with incidents that occurred between June 2022 and May 2023.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci deferred sentencing so that court officials could complete a background investigation report about Otter.
Otter potentially faces a maximum of 20 to 40 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
DelRicci remanded Otter to the county jail without bail to await a sentencing hearing later this year.
The investigation began on Aug. 15, 2023, when Pottstown police responded to the 400 block of East High Street for reports of individuals loitering and trespassing in the area. Responding officers found a green backpack lying on the ground but none of the individuals in the area claimed ownership, according to court papers.
A search of the backpack uncovered a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun with a magazine that contained seven rounds of ammunition and one round in the chamber, detectives said. The serial number on the handgun had been scratched in an attempt to obliterate the serial number, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Vincent Higgins, a member of the county’s Violent Crime Unit, and Pottstown Police Sergeant Brian Weitzel, a member of the district attorney’s Gun Violence Task Force.
An officer’s bodycam footage of his arrival on the scene depicted a 15-year-old juvenile removing the backpack from his shoulders and placing it on the ground. That teenager, who was not legally permitted to possess a firearm due to his age, subsequently was charged with firearms offenses.
The ensuing investigation uncovered that the seized firearm had been purchased by Otter on May 31, 2023, from JW Firearms, a gun store on South Hanover Street in North Coventry, Chester County, according to court documents.
Investigators suspected Otter’s gun purchase was a straw purchase.
A straw purchase occurs when a person with a clean background purchases firearms on behalf of another person to conceal the true ownership of the firearm. Those who are unable to legally purchase firearms include convicted felons, domestic violence offenders, juveniles and mentally ill individuals.
“Of particular interest to law enforcement is the attempt to obliterate the serial number assigned to the firearm. This is commonly done as a way of hindering law enforcement’s attempts into determining the true purchaser of the firearm,” Higgins and Weitzel alleged in the arrest affidavit.
The investigation determined that Otter purchased four firearms from the North Coventry gun store, two on Feb. 24, 2023, and two on May 31, 2023, according to court documents. On federal firearms purchase forms, Otter indicated he purchased the firearms for himself and not another individual, detectives alleged.
As detectives looked further into Otter’s purchasing history, they determined he purchased four additional firearms between June 17, 2022, and Feb. 24, 2023, from gun stores in Chester and Berks counties, for a total of eight firearms.
Specifically, according to detectives, Otter purchased one firearm at Sensibly Armed Personal Protection Training in the 2800 block of Perkiomen Avenue in Mt. Penn, Berks County, and seven handguns from Hudson’s Outfitters/JW Firearms in the 1400 block of South Hanover Street in North Coventry.
The weapons included 9mm and .40-caliber semiautomatic handguns.
Two Smith & Wesson handguns purchased by Otter were identical models, detectives said.
“Through my training and experience, I know that purchasing the same or similar model firearms is an indicator of straw gun purchases,” Higgins and Weitzel alleged.
Based on their experience, detectives alleged “a sizable amount of firearms procured within a short amount of time is an indicator of a person conducting straw purchases.”
“Multiple firearm purchases on the same day is also an indicator of a person conducting straw purchases. Otter has purchased eight handguns in eleven months and purchased two firearms on both February 24 and May 31, 2023,” Higgins and Weitzel wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Detectives alleged Otter sold each of the eight purchased handguns for profit to individuals who were prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms.
Otter did not possess a federal firearm license to sell guns, “in turn making all of his handgun transfers illegal,” detectives alleged.
Other charges of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, illegal sale or transfer of firearms and unsworn falsification to authorities are slated to be dismissed against Otter at the time of sentencing.
