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Tony Phan Ho, 32, ran the operation out of his Hatfield home with help from Rithga Ngoy, 36, of Hatfield and Michael Phan Nguyen, 32, of Lansdale, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said.
A search of Ho’s property found all of the tools needed to privately manufacture firearms, numerous AR-15 rifle parts, firearm sights, firearm sight tools, a Polymer80 tool kit, weapon mounted lights, a Glock pistol barrel, a Sig Sauer 320P modular grip frame, assorted other firearms parts, a 3D printer and ammunition, said Steele alongside Homeland Security Investigations (Philadelphia) Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker and Hatfield Township Police Chief William Tierney.
The investigation began in May 2023, when a shipment of firearm suppressor (silencer) component parts from China was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at JFK International Airport in New York.
The shipment of suppressor parts was being shipped to Ho at his home address in Hatfield. Ho is legally precluded from possessing a firearm, which includes suppressors/silencers, authorities said.
Homeland Security Investigations contacted the Montgomery County Detective Bureau and Hatfield Police in early July 2023, and together detectives and an HSI agent spoke with Ho at his home, then obtained a search warrant for the house and a shed workshop where Ho was manufacturing firearms, authorities said.
A search of Ho’s property found all of the tools needed to privately manufacture firearms, numerous AR-15 rifle parts, firearm sights, firearm sight tools, a Polymer80 tool kit, weapon mounted lights, a Glock pistol barrel, a Sig Sauer 320P modular grip frame, assorted other firearms parts, a 3D printer and ammunition.
The investigation also found photos of completed firearms and partially made firearms in Ho’s cellphone as well as several videos of firearms, including one that showed Ho lying in his backdoor frame firing an AR-15-style rifle with a silencer attached out into his residence’s backyard.
Also found within the cellphone were communications between the three defendants and others unnamed regarding the availability and sales of the firearms made by Ho, and the attempted illegal purchase of a firearm from a gun store by Nguyen, Steele said. The captured communications identified 15 illegal firearm sales dating back to March 2020.
Ahead of the interview with law enforcement and search of Ho’s residence, Ho asked his co-conspirator Ngoy to take his firearms so the firearms would not be in Ho’s home, police said. Ngoy later surrendered the multiple firearms parts and the 15 functioning firearms that he was holding for Ho — 14 of which were ghosts guns or privately-made completed firearms, police said.
Ho is charged with Corrupt Organization, Conspiracy, Person Not to Possess a Firearm, Illegal Firearms Sales, Dealing in the Proceeds of Unlawful Activities, Materially False Statements, Statement Under Penalty, Criminal Use of a Communications Facility, Make/Repair/Sell Offensive Weapons and other firearms charges.
Ngoy is charged with Corrupt Organization, Conspiracy, Illegal Firearms Sales, Dealing in the Proceeds of Unlawful Activities, and Criminal Use of a Communications Facility and other firearms charges.
Nguyen is charged with Corrupt Organization, Conspiracy, Illegal Firearms Sales, Dealing in the Proceeds of Unlawful Activities, and Criminal Use of a Communications Facility and other firearms charges.
Ho and Ngoy were arrested and arraigned Aug. 28, 2023, before Magisterial District Judge Michael P. Quinn, who set bail at $250,000 cash for each defendant. Nguyen turned himself in to police and was arraigned Aug. 28, 2023, before Judge Quinn, who set bail at $75,000 10 percent.
During a bail review hearing on Aug. 28, 2021, Court of Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter did not change the defendants’ bail amounts. As a condition of bail, each defendant also had to surrender their passport and could not possess a firearm. The defendants were unable to make bail and were remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility
A preliminary hearing for all three defendants is scheduled for 9 a.m., Sept. 13, 2023, before Magisterial District Judge Edward Levine. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Samantha Arena.
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