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Tesora Amanda Cortes Trejorojas, 24, admitted in federal court in Newark last February that she bought the semi-automatic weapons at a store near her Norfolk, VA home for Azia Sinclair and Shyheim “Shy” Tyson of Newark.
She entered the plea in exchange for the more lenient sentence -- all of which she must serve because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
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.
The couple had driven down to Norfolk, went with Trejorojas to the store and gave her the cash to buy the guns and 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.
Trejorojas pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with others to transport and receive in New Jersey firearms purchased and obtained outside the state.
Tyson and Sinclair both pleaded guilty to similar charges last year. Tyson was sentenced to 37 months and Sinclair to 19 months.
U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty also sentenced Trejorojas on Monday to three years of supervised release.
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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