New Brunswick man convicted on multiple counts for illegal purchase of guns

Edward Ratliff, a 51-year-old resident of New Brunswick, was recently sentenced to up to 35 years in state prison for sending a man to buy eight guns for him at a gun store in Pennsylvania, according to an article from Patch.

Ratliff used a resident of Collingdale, Pennsylvania, Diarmani Deveaux to purchase firearms for him because Ratliff had previously been convicted of multiple felony gun charges by a jury in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and was not legally eligible to purchase guns.

Prosecutors in the case said at the time of the purchase, Deveaux provided false information on the federal gun forms saying that he would be the owner of the guns he was purchasing, according to the article.

Following the scheme, which is commonly known as a "straw purchase," or a transaction in which an individual purchases a gun for someone else, Ratliff had taken the guns back with him from Pennsylvania to his residence in New Brunswick.

Both Ratliff and Deveaux were seen on the store’s video surveillance, which showed them together during the purchase. Deveaux had also previously pleaded guilty in a similar case, according to the article.

Counts that Ratliff was convicted of include conspiracy, firearm sale to a transferee who is ineligible, the prohibited possession of a firearm and the creation of a materially false written statement.