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Ansonia resident Melvin Burroughs, age 36, was sentenced to 58 months in prison on Thursday, July 27 for trafficking firearms, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.
According to federal officials, between 2019 through approximately January 2022, Burroughs bought parts for "ghost guns," assembled them into finished working firearms, and sold them.
He first faced criminal charges after exiting his Ansonia home in broad daylight with a handgun on March 14, 2021, and firing five rounds at two men who had approached his house. Images of this incident were captured by surveillance video and released by officials.
The next day after the shooting, Ansonia Police officers searched Burroughs' house and found two finished Glock-style privately made ghost guns, large amounts of ammunition, gun parts, tools for building ghost guns, a flamethrower, as well as a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol that had been reported stolen from Georgia, officials said.
In addition, officers also found a custom-made red and black AR-15-style rifle that had the words “SUU WHOOP” written on it, a gang call of the Bloods street gang.
Following the shootings, Burroughs was charged with Connecticut state offenses in the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District and released on bail conditions.
Soon after this, on Jan. 8, 2022, Burroughs was arrested in Westchester County while out on bail after being caught with kits to build 17 ghost guns, a finished frame for an AR-15 rifle, 5 extended magazines, and an 18-inch machete.
After this arrest, authorities then searched numerous cell phones belonging to Burroughs and found evidence such as text message communications, videos, and photographs that showed he had been unlawfully selling firearms since around 2019.
This business included the purchasing of ghost gun parts over the internet and at gun shows, building the ghost guns at home, and then selling them, federal officials said.
Additionally, one of his cell phones had a photograph of 15 ghost gun kits that he had bought around February 2021.
In total, Burroughs trafficked at least 32 of the weapons.
Before his sentencing on Thursday, Burroughs had pleaded guilty to trafficking firearms and conspiring to traffic firearms. In addition to his prison term, he will be required to serve three years of supervised release.
US Attorney Damian Williams called ghost guns a "scourge to our community."
"Melvin Burroughs built and sold a veritable armory of ghost guns, and he now faces prison time for his crimes," Williams added.
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