Arrests.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, Lower Merion Township Police Supt. Andrew Block, Upper Moreland Township Police Chief Scott Bendig and Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy announced the dismantling of a gun trafficking organization that was illegally selling factory-made firearms as well as manufacturing and selling 3D-printed “ghost guns,” suppressors (aka silencers) and machine gun conversion devices, commonly known as “switches.”
The gun trafficking organization was allegedly led by three men who are charged with murder in the home invasion homicide that occurred in Lower Merion Township on Dec. 8, 2024: Charles Fulforth, 41, of Jenkintown; Kelvin Roberts, 42, of Philadelphia; and Jeremy Fuentes, 26, of Philadelphia.
Charles Fulforth, 41, of Jenkintown (Image courtesy of the Montgomery County DA)
Kelvin Roberts, 42 (Image courtesy of the Montgomery County DA)
Jeremy Fuentes, 26, of Philadelphia. (Credit: Montgomery County District Attorney)Five members of their gun trafficking organization, who are all from Philadelphia, are also charged: Aaron Hiller, 24; Marcus Lee Jackson, 33; Jonathan Rodriguez, 26; Corry K. Simpson, 38; and Frances Staten, 38, authorities said.
Frances Staten, 38, of Philadelphia. (Credit: Montgomery County DA)
Jonathan Rodriguez, 26, of Philadelphia. (Credit: Montgomery County District Attorney's Office)
Aaron Hiller, 24, of Philadelphia. (Credit: Montgomery County DA)The investigation that uncovered the gun trafficking organization, led by Fulforth, Roberts and Fuentes, began after the Montgomery County Detective Bureau and the Lower Merion Township Police recovered a 9mm 3D-printed ghost gun in Fulforth’s Jenkintown apartment, authorities said.
The investigation confirmed that the firearm was used to fatally shoot Andrew Gaudio during the home invasion, police said.
Detectives subsequently began investigating how Fulforth came to be in possession of the firearm. Through a variety of investigative techniques, including serving search warrants on multiple locations and forensic searches of mobile phones, the investigation found that Fulforth allegedly manufactured the firearm in his firearm production facility.
(Credit: Montgomery County DA)
(Credit: Montgomery County DA)Detectives obtained a video showing a firearm that closely resembles the one utilized in the homicide, specifically the same Taurus-style make and model being printed using one of the 3D printers found in Fulforth’s apartment, investigators allege.
An investigation by Montgomery County Detectives and Lower Merion Police, assisted by Upper Moreland Township Police, Abington Township Police, Cheltenham Township Police, Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and Philadelphia Police, uncovered the extensive nature of the gun manufacturing and trafficking organization allegedly led by Fulforth, Roberts and Fuentes.
This organization also allegedly involved Hiller, Jackson, Rodriguez, Simpson and Staten. The ghost gun used in the Lower Merion homicide is believed to be one of many manufactured by Fulforth, police said.
The investigation found that this organization frequently engaged in the unlawful transfer of factory-made firearms, but the organization also produced and sold a significant portion of the group’s inventory, police said.
The investigation found that Fulforth had allegedly established a highly sophisticated, clandestine firearms production facility, where he allegedly engineered and assembled multiple types of personally-manufactured firearms, including AR-pistols—all of which did not include a serial number, making them difficult for law enforcement to trace.
In addition to these illegal firearms, Fulforth also was allegedly producing machine gun conversion devices—switches—using 3D printers that were sold pre-installed in the weapons he and his co-conspirators offered to their customers to generate even greater profit.
From the review of the captured cellphone communications among the gun trafficking members, the investigation found that when switches were installed on AR pistols, it increased the price of the firearm by at least $1,000, investigators said.
Furthermore, the defendants allegedly procured, made and sold firearm suppressors, also known as silencers, which were then attached to the modified weapons.
Authorities said the final produced weapon combined automatic firing capabilities with the sound dampening of suppressors to create an even greater risk to the community.
“By illegally selling factory-made firearms and manufacturing numerous types of firearms, silencers and machine gun conversion devices, this gun trafficking organization was arming criminals, and they were further equipping criminals by 3D-printing and installing switches on the firearms they sold, transforming them into fully automatic machine guns making them exponentially more deadly,” said Steele. “Added to that were their 3D-printed suppressors and firearms ‘lowers’ to which they purchased receivers and other necessary parts to manufacture ghost guns—untraceable firearms with no serial number. So now we have ‘silent machine guns’ in our communities, which provides an inordinate risk to community members and law enforcement officials across Montgomery County and the Commonwealth. The danger of this type of gun trafficking organization is huge and simply unmeasurable.”
The defendants are charged with dozens of felonies related to gun trafficking, including felony counts of corrupt organizations, dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity, criminal use of a communications device, illegal sale or transfer of firearms, and criminal conspiracy, per charging documents.
All eight defendants are in the process of being arrested on the new charges and will be arraigned, authorities said.
At arraignment, bail will be set for the five defendants who are not charged with murder. A preliminary hearing on the gun trafficking charges will be scheduled at the time of the arraignment, according to Steele.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
