FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 22, 2022
Bushwick Man Indicted for Illegal Possession of Ghost Guns
Numerous Weapons, Both Completed and Unfinished, Recovered from Defendant’s Apartment,
Including Four Assault Weapons, Five Handguns and Four Rifles
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced the indictment of a Brooklyn man who allegedly purchased over $10,000 worth of gun parts online to build illegal, untraceable firearms known as ghost guns. Numerous completed guns and gun parts were allegedly recovered from his apartment.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant allegedly acquired a massive arsenal of homemade ghost guns that are as real and dangerous as traditional firearms. By assembling guns from kits, unfinished parts, or 3D printed components, those who possess ghost guns evade critically important background checks and registration requirements, and because they have no serial number they are untraceable. The surge in ghost guns in our neighborhoods is a major contributor to the violence plaguing our communities and my Office is working tirelessly to stop their proliferation in Brooklyn.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Dexter Taylor, 51, of Bushwick. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Chu on a 37-count indictment in which he is charged with multiple counts of second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers and one count of unlawful possession of pistol ammunition. His bail was continued at $50,000 and he was ordered to return to court on May 5, 2022.
The District Attorney said that, following an investigation, members of the New York City Police Department identified Taylor as having ordered numerous ghost gun kits and component parts from various online retailers that were allegedly shipped to the defendant’s address on Eldert Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
A search warrant was executed at the defendant’s apartment on April 6, 2022, and numerous items were recovered, including four completed assault weapons, five completed handguns, four completed rifles, eight lower receivers for rifles, five lower receivers for handguns, four rifle magazines, seven pistol magazines, four upper receivers, casings, bullet primers and gunpowder to build ammunition and various tools commonly used to build firearms.
The investigation was conducted by the New York City Police Department’s Major Case Field Intelligence Team and Detective Investigators from the District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michael O’Rourke, of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Spota, VCE Deputy Bureau Chief and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Cilia, VCE First Deputy Bureau Chief, under the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Alfred DeIngeniis, VCE Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.