Firearms Trafficker Sentenced To 102 Months In Prison For Directing Straw Purchasing Conspiracy Involving Over 60 Firearms

HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Tykeam Markel Jackson, age 27, was sentenced on April 18 to 102 months’ imprisonment for multiple firearms offenses related to his trafficking of over 60 firearms from Central Pennsylvania to Massachusetts.  According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, between March 25 and July 26, 2020, Jackson orchestrated a scheme to obtain firearms using straw parties to purchase firearms from Cumberland, Dauphin, and Lancaster-area licensed firearms dealers.  In exchange for cash from Jackson, the straw purchasers fraudulently certified to dealers they were buying firearms for themselves, when in truth they were buying firearms for Jackson, who was a felon at the time and prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms.  Jackson then obliterated the serial numbers and transported the firearms to Massachusetts for resale.  The straw purchasing scheme led by Jackson purchased or attempted to purchase 61 firearms before ATF agents ended the operation by arresting Jackson in Massachusetts.