A duo from Jamaica were arrested for their alleged roles in a major gun-dealing ring, prosecutors announced Monday.
Gerren Devlin, 34, and Kiearra Reynolds, 29, were arraigned on separate criminal complaints; Devlin is charged with first-, second- and third-degree criminal sale of a firearm and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Reynolds is charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal sale of a firearm.
Devlin held on $500,000 bond/$250,000 cash bail and Reynolds was held on $100,000 bond/$50,000 cash bail, and both are due to return to court on April 29. If convicted, Devlin faces up to 182 years in prison, while Reynolds faces up to 22 years in prison.
“Illegal guns in our communities put everyone at risk. Gun runners who profit off the sale of illegal firearms are dealers of death and mayhem and contribute to the senseless gun violence that too often infests our neighborhoods,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney John M. Ryan. “Unbeknown to the defendants in this case, their buyers were undercover police and each transaction is now evidence that will be used to lock them away for a very long time. I want to thank the NYPD’s Firearm Suppression Section for their hard work in taking these dealers — and the guns — off our streets.”
According to charges, from December 2017 to March 2019, Devlin allegedly sold numerous firearms to the “buyer,” who was an undercover detective, in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash on nine separate occasions.
On Dec. 8, 2017, the undercover detective met with Devlin on Ferndale Avenue in Jamaica and Devlin allegedly sold the officer a pistol, a magazine for that pistol and ammunition for $600. On Feb. 25, 2019, Devlin allegedly sold six pistols, a revolver, assault rifle and ammunition for a total of $7,000 to the “buyer.”
Charges say that on Sept. 6, 2018, Reynolds allegedly sold three pistols and ammunition to a buyer for $2,800. Unbeknownst to Reynolds, the buyer was an undercover detective.
Over the course of the investigation, undercover detectives allegedly purchased 26 pistols, two revolvers, two assault rifles, a shotgun, an inoperable blank pistol and more than 400 rounds of ammunition for just over $26,000.
On April 11, police carried out a court-authorized search warrant at the defendants’ home on 146th Street. During the search, police allegedly uncovered box with 33 rounds of 9mm ammunition and three forged credit cards.
“Getting illegal firearms off the street is some of the most dangerous work in law enforcement, but it’s essential to keeping violent crime at the historically low levels that we’ve achieved,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “I want to thank the Queens District Attorney and additionally, the detectives who made the undercover buys and intercepted more than 30 firearms — handguns, assault rifles, and a shotgun — through the course of this investigation, which was conducted by the NYPD’s Gun Violence Suppression Division and the Firearms Investigation Unit.”
