NORRISTOWN — Before his jail sentence was imposed, a Philadelphia man told a judge he prays his role in a gun trafficking scheme, purchasing guns for the leader of a corrupt organization, won’t lead to violence on the street.
“Every day I continue to pray that my actions don’t hurt anyone out there,” Anthony Michael Figueroa-Marko addressed Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein during his sentencing hearing, adding he is “sorry” for purchasing eight firearms for the leader of a multi-county gun and drug trafficking organization between January 2023 and April 2024.
Rothstein sentenced Figueroa-Marko, 36, of the 2300 block of North 9th Street, to 11½ to 23 months in jail. “Pursuant to a warden agreement,” Rothstein said, Figueroa-Marko will serve his sentence at the Delaware County jail. The reasons for that agreement were not revealed in open court.
Under a limited agreement reached with prosecutors, Figueroa-Marko gave up his right to seek parole after serving his minimum sentence and will serve the entire 23-month period behind bars. Figueroa-Marko, who was represented by defense lawyer David Downey, also agreed to waive and forego credit for time he served in jail while awaiting court action on the charges.
Figueroa-Marko previously pleaded guilty to charges of corrupt organizations, selling firearms to ineligible persons, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, unsworn falsification to authorities, possession with intent to deliver controlled substances and conspiracy in connection with making straw purchases for Scott Michael Grondin, who led the gun trafficking network.
A straw purchase occurs when someone who is legally allowed to purchase a firearm purchases one and then illegally transfers or sells it to someone who is not permitted to purchase that firearm.
“You were part of this criminal enterprise,” Rothstein addressed Figueroa-Marko, who could have faced time in a state prison on the charges.
Prosecutors did not seek a state prison term, nor mandatory sentences, against Figueroa-Marko.
Rothstein acknowledged that Figueroa-Marko, who had no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty to the charges, accepted responsibility for his actions and didn’t force a trial.
“You still need to be held accountable,” Rothstein said as she imposed the county jail sentence.
The gun trafficking organization had tentacles in Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Philadelphia counties.
Assistant District Attorney Blair Rohlfing, who handled the case with co-prosecutor Robert Joseph Waeltz Jr., said a jail term was warranted for Figueroa-Marko.
“It underscores the seriousness of this offense. Firearms trafficking is incredibly dangerous and puts firearms on the streets. It’s insidious as it takes people who have no criminal records and essentially creates felons out of them and ties them to organizations like this one that are trafficking in firearms and putting them on the streets and in the hands of people who aren’t allowed to possess them,” Rohlfing said.
Authorities said Grondin, 43, whose criminal history included a burglary conviction that prohibited him from possessing firearms, solicited others to buy 17 guns for the corrupt organization. Grondin then offered the firearms to his gun and drug customers, detectives alleged.
Grondin and his girlfriend, Bella Skylar Kenna, 22, each previously was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple felony charges. They ran the corrupt organization from their home in the 300 block of North 9th Street in Philadelphia.
Grondin and Kenna were responsible for moving or attempting to move 17 firearms into the stream of illegal criminal activity and only seven of the firearms have been recovered. The organization also distributed controlled substances, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana.
Testimony revealed Figueroa-Marko, who struggled with a drug addiction, received drugs as payment for helping Grondin obtain guns.
“He was doing this to support a drug habit,” Rohlfing alleged. “One of the things that was particularly galling about this organization was that it used the firearms purchasers’ substance use addictions and leveraged that to get them to go buy firearms.”
Figueroa-Marko told the judge he has been sober for 16 months after completing counseling programs.
Grondin, Kenna and Figueroa-Marko were among seven people arrested last year and accused of participating in the corrupt organization.
Several others previously pleaded guilty to various charges and are serving jail terms.
“The purpose of this corrupt organization was to illegally obtain and distribute numerous firearms to others to be used for illegal activity. Once this gun trafficking organization received these firearms they obliterated the serial numbers. We know the objective of such behavior is to circumvent law enforcement investigations into violent crimes, in turn concealing the true end recipient of the firearm,” county Detective Richard Hoffner and state police Trooper Michael Primerano wrote in a criminal complaint.
The investigation determined the center of the group’s operations was the Philadelphia home where Grondin and Kenna resided. Detectives alleged a large number of “short-term visitors consistent with drug trafficking and illegal activity” and surveillance “confirmed this residence is the center-point of this operation.”
The investigation began in December 2023 at a gun show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Upper Providence Township, where members of the group purchased multiple firearms and exhibited suspicious behavior, according to authorities.
Members of the county’s Violent Crime Unit reviewed the gun purchasing behavior of several conspirators that uncovered “numerous indicators of straw purchases.” The investigation involved physical surveillance and firearms purchase paperwork.
“In this investigation we recovered photographs of firearms they illegally purchased including some showing firearms with their serial numbers obliterated,” detectives alleged in court papers. “Their captured communications detailed their agreed upon plans to illegally acquire firearms to sell on the street for profit after obliterating the serial numbers.”
Detectives alleged members of the straw purchasing organization purchased or transferred the 17 firearms between Jan. 19, 2023, and Feb. 26, 2024.
The weapons purchased by the co-conspirators included 9mm semiautomatic handguns, .357-caliber, .22-caliber and .40-caliber revolvers and 12-gauge shotguns, according to court papers.
The county’s Violent Crime Unit and state police were assisted during the investigation by members of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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