U.S. Navy Member Admits Illegally Buying Guns In Virginia For NJ Couple

A former active-duty member of the U.S. Navy admitted Tuesday that she illegally bought five guns in Virginia for a New Jersey couple – including one that ended up being fired on the street hours later.

The sound of gunshots brought police to a neighborhood in Orange, where they reported finding one of the guns.
Photo Credit: *MAIN: Carptrash (Diana Moore)/Wikipedia*

Jerry DeMarco

02/26/2019 6:31 p.m.

The sound of gunshots brought police to a neighborhood in Orange, where they reported finding one of the guns, in November 2017, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Tuesday.

Tesora Amanda Cortes Trejorojas, 24, admitted in federal court in Newark on Tuesday that she bought the semi-automatic weapons at a store near her Norfolk, Va. Home for Azia Sinclair and Shyheim “Shy” Tyson of Newark, the U.S. attorney said.

The couple had driven down to Norfolk, went with Trejorojas to the store and gave her the cash to buy the guns, along with 200 rounds of ammunition, according to Carpenito.

The next day, the couple drove home with the guns and ammo, he said.

“Approximately five hours after Sinclair and Tyson arrived back in New Jersey, an individual was arrested in Orange after police officers responded to the sound of gunshots,” the U.S. attorney said. “During the arrest, police officers recovered one of the five handguns that Sinclair and Tyson had transported from Virginia to New Jersey.”

A federal raid on Sinclair’s home last March turned up another of the guns that Trejorojas bought, he said.

In exchange for what will be a 37-month sentence, Trejorojas pleaded guilty Tuesday to “conspiring with others to transport and receive in New Jersey firearms purchased and obtained outside the state,” the U.S. attorney said.

U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty scheduled sentencing for Sept. 25.

Tyson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and receive in New Jersey firearms purchased and obtained outside the State of New Jersey, and he was sentenced on Jan. 7 to 37 months in prison. Sinclair is awaiting trial.

Carpenito credited special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the investigation. He also thanked the New Jersey State Police, the Newark Department of Public Safety and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Norfolk for their assistance.

Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan W. Romankow of Carpenito’s Violent Crimes Unit in Newark.

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