A Maine man has owned up to his role in a gun-running scheme, admitting to charges of conspiracy to straw purchase firearms and trafficking those firearms to Massachusetts. Traveyon Richardson, 26, of Bangor, Maine entered his guilty plea before Chief United States District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, with sentencing now on the docket for July 10, 2024.
The plot, which saw firearms clandestinely bought and shuttled from Maine down to Massachusetts, hooked Richardson and his co-conspirator Breon Stroup, whose charges still hang in the balance. Stroup is said to have used Snapchat to request the firearms from Richardson, an exchange of firearms for funds facilitated through Cash App quickly following. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Richardson's part in this was to collect the guns from a licensed dealer before transporting them to Stroup in Massachusetts in October 2022.
Concern over digital evidence appeared to have struck the duo, with Richardson questioning Stroup about the latter's digital footprint. "It is further alleged that approximately two weeks later, in October 2022, Richardson and Stroup had a phone conversation where Stroup assured Richardson that he had deleted his Snapchat account," the U.S. Attorney's Office detailed. And when quizzed about his iCloud account, Stroup allegedly told Richardson that he had deleted that account also.
The stakes in this criminal enterprise are significant, with each count of conspiracy to straw purchase and trafficking firearms carrying a potential 15-year prison sentence, along with three years of supervised release and up to $250,000 in fines. Ultimately, a federal district court judge will mete out the sentences, based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and related statutes.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge at the ATF's Boston Field Division, credited the Fall River Police Department and the Maine State Police for their assistance in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lucy Sun and Timothy E. Moran of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit are leading the charge in the prosecution. As the trials progress, and until a verdict is rendered, suspects like Stroup remain cloaked in the presumption of innocence, as stated by the charging documents.
