A Girardville man was sentenced Thursday, for unlawfully purchasing firearms for another individual.The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on October 31, 2019, United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion sentenced Theodore R. Stang, Jr. 31, of Girardville, to 24 months’ imprisonment and a two-year term of supervised release, for unlawfully purchasing firearms for another individual.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, during June 2017, Stang acted as a “straw purchaser” of firearms, purchasing two handgun-style firearms for another individual who was not permitted to lawfully purchase or possess firearms based upon prior criminal convictions and whom Stang knew to be involved in narcotics trafficking.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery St John.
The case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.