Yahoo Finance Five are accused of running stolen-gun trafficking ring in Kansas City
Five men are accused of running an organized crime ring in Kansas City, a group said to be responsible for the theft and sale of dozens of firearms that were offered for sale to buyers, including at least one juvenile, over social media.
The alleged conspirators were named in an 18-count indictment filed in the Western District of Missouri earlier this week.
Charges against the group include criminal conspiracy, unlicensed firearm sales, illegal firearm possession and possessing distribution-level quantities of marijuana.
The defendants are Treyon Bloodsoe, 20, Roy Rushing, 24, Rayquan Pettaway, 22, Drevion Hooker, 20, and Bobby Lamb, 19. In court records, federal authorities allege the group possessed nearly 120 firearms, including at least one assault rifle, over the past several months. Fifty-eight guns were recovered by law enforcement, and another 60 were documented to have been in the group’s possession at some point, the indictment alleges.
Last month, The Star reported that Bloodsoe and Rushing were the targets of a federal investigation led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spawned by a surge in gun thefts from parked vehicles in Kansas City entertainment districts, including Westport. Both men were arrested in early November after search warrants were served at properties deemed to be havens for the guns.
In September, federal agents were granted court authority to search the Facebook accounts of Rushing and Bloodsoe. Those searches revealed “an ongoing conspiracy to traffic firearms,” a federal agent wrote in affidavits supporting criminal charges.
The complaint cited one example where a 9mm Glock was allegedly offered to a juvenile. In a message exchange, a video showing the gun was shared with the juvenile, whose name is withheld in court records.
Agents ran the serial numbers on the gun seen in the video. It was found in the possession of a juvenile five days later by Kansas City police.
Pettaway was among the first within the group arrested in connection to the alleged conspiracy. He was taken into police custody in July as undercover police were conducting a surveillance operation in Westport seeking to address the rising number of gun thefts there.
On July 11, Pettaway was seen with another man near parked cars “possibly on the verge of forcing entry” into them, court records allege. When officers converged, Pettaway got into a car and sped away, police said.
Officers later found that car parked near West 39th and Central streets. Pettaway was arrested following a foot chase. Inside the car, police said they found a handgun that had been reported stolen from a parked vehicle hours earlier.
