South Carolina Man Sentenced To 78 Months In Prison For Trafficking 25 Handguns Into New York City

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TORRIE JOHNSON was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 78 months in prison for trafficking 25 firearms from South Carolina into New York City.  In May 2019, JOHNSON was arrested, charged, and detained.  In January 2020, JOHNSON pled guilty to one count of firearms trafficking before United States District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, who also imposed the sentence.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Torrie Johnson illegally sold more than two dozen firearms in New York City without regard for where they ended up or how they would be used.  Thanks to the work of the ATF and the NYPD, the guns were taken off the street, and now Torrie Johnson is headed to prison.”

According to the allegations set forth in the Complaint, the Indictment, and the Superseding Information filed against JOHNSON in Manhattan federal court, as well as statements made in public court filings and proceedings, including JOHNSON’s sentencing hearing:

On at least five occasions between January 23, 2019, and May 9, 2019, JOHNSON sold firearms to an undercover New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) detective (the “UC”).  In total, JOHNSON sold 25 firearms to the UC in Manhattan and the Bronx, including a variety of 9 millimeter, .32, .38, .40, .45, and .380 caliber pistols and revolvers, as well as hundreds of rounds of assorted ammunition.

JOHNSON purchased the firearms in South Carolina, and transported them to New York City for the purpose of selling them here.  On at least two occasions, the UC specifically told JOHNSON that the UC was planning to transport at least some of the firearms that JOHNSON had sold to the UC to a foreign country, and resell them there for a profit.  JOHNSON told the UC that he was attempting to obtain for sale to the UC a Century Arms Mini Draco AK-47 semi‑automatic pistol.

In addition to his prison term, JOHNSON, 42, of Sumter, South Carolina, was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the NYPD, and the Joint Firearms Task Force.