Richard Philippe, 42, was convicted following a four-day jury trial of transporting firearms into Massachusetts from Georgia without a license and being a felon in possession of ammunition. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for April 4, 2022. Philippe was indicted in September 2019. Between April and June 2019, Philippe purchased dozens of handguns from an unlicensed straw purchaser in Georgia. Philippe returned with the guns to a warehouse in Taunton where he sold them for cash. Philippe, who had a prior felony firearms conviction in Rhode Island, had neither the lawful ability to possess firearms or ammunition nor a federal license to deal in firearms. The investigation arose following a July 2019 undercover purchase of firearms from a long-time Brockton drug dealer, who had purchased more than a dozen firearms from Philippe and had been selling them into criminal commerce on the South Shore. The undercover operation triggered a search of Philippe’s warehouse in Taunton, which revealed Philippe’s firearm trafficking. The weapons were traced back to multiple purchases by Philippe’s associate from a pawn shop in Georgia, which specialized in selling low-cost handguns.
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Maine: Convicted Felon Trafficked in Handguns From Georgia
Philippe, who had a prior felony firearms conviction in Rhode Island, had neither the lawful ability to possess firearms or ammunition nor a federal license to deal in firearms.
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