CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Author's note: The video above is about gun seizures in Hampton Roads. It aired on July 5, 2022.
A Chesapeake man was sentenced to 18 months in prison Wednesday for firearms trafficking, the Justice Department said.
Kevin Staton Jr., 24, bought and sold 45 firearms without a license from June 2019 through June 2020, according to the department. To buy the guns he trafficked, Staton made false official statements on ATF forms.
Staton claimed he was the actual buyer of the firearms, but he actually purchased them for other people or with the intent to quickly resell them. Staton worked with others to identify firearms to buy through online firearm marketplaces.
When Staton was interviewed by ATF agents, he told them that “guns are like money.”
One of the firearms Staton was convicted of trafficking was recovered seven months after his purchase in Philadelphia and was connected to a homicide in March 2020; a shooting involving multiple victims in May 2020; and a shooting into a residence in May 2020.
Other firearms Staton trafficked were recovered throughout the country in connection with other homicides and shootings, and in the possession of convicted felons.
After Staton serves time in prison, he will face two years of supervised release.
“Those who traffic illegal firearms, like this defendant, are fueling the fires of gun violence, and with our law enforcement partners we will continue to relentlessly pursue those who seek to profit from these crimes," Jessica Aber, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a news release.