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Jerry “Angel” Nunez of Cliffside Park imported the .45-caliber AMT semi-automatic pistol into New Jersey via UPS from a connection in Florida last June, then sold it to Sean Stark of Paramus for $500, authorities said.
Stark, 24, then provided the gun to Robert Leonardis, who police said was later involved in the shootout last July 22.
Leonardis fired the .45-caliber handgun at a police cruiser — with one round hitting the hood and another going through the windshield, narrowly missing the officer driving – while being chased, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time. Officers returned fire, hitting Leonardis several times, the prosecutor said.
Investigators traced the firearm to Florida, which has “lenient gun laws and only requires a driver’s license” to buy one, Molinelli said.
A series of searches on July 25 led to the arrests of those charged in the indictment.
The 15-count indictment says the 22-year-old Nunez, Stark and the man identified as the Florida connection, Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, also 22 of Pembroke Pines, conspired to bring the gun into New Jersey between June 1 and July 6.
Rodriguez (photo above, third from left) then shipped the gun to Nunez (second from left) in Cliffside Park before it was sold to Stark in Paramus, it alleges.
The indictment also charges both Nunez and Stark (far left) with illegal weapons possession for having the pistol without a permit.
Authorities said they seized pot and Ecstasy during the arrests.
Nunez, Stark and Stark’s girlfriend, 23-year-old Christiana Cyriax, of Upper Saddle River, were charged with possession of marijuana and MDMC with the intent to sell them. Stark and Cyriax also are charged with two counts of possession of psilocybin mushrooms.
Weeks after the arrests, Cyriax was charged by Ridgefield Park police with having “more than the usual amount” of pot, along with heroin, cocaine and LSD for sale in a car parked outside a Route 46 auto repair shop.
Rodriguez PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter / MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
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