Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, Lower Merion Township Police Supt. Andrew Block, Upper Moreland Township Police Chief Scott Bendig and Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy announced today the dismantling of a gun trafficking organization that was illegally selling factory-made firearms as well as manufacturing and selling 3D-printed “ghost guns,” suppressors (aka silencers) and machine gun conversion devices, commonly known as “switches.”
The gun trafficking organization was led by three male employees of Junkluggers Willow Grove, each of whom are charged with murder in connection with the home invasion homicide that occurred in Lower Merion Township on December 8, 2024. Five residents of Philadelphia and members of their gun trafficking organization—Aaron Hiller, 24; Marcus Lee Jackson, 33; Jonathan Rodriguez, 26; Corry K. Simpson, 38; and Frances Staten, 38—are also charged, officials said.
The investigation began after the Montgomery County Detective Bureau and the Lower Merion Township Police recovered a 9mm 3D-printed ghost gun in Charles Fulforth’s Jenkintown apartment. Officials confirmed that the firearm was used to fatally shoot Andrew Gaudio during the home invasion.
The investigation also found that Fulforth manufactured the firearm in his firearm production facility. Detectives obtained a video showing a firearm that closely resembles the one utilized in the homicide, specifically the same make and model (Taurus style) being printed using one of the 3D printers found in Fulforth’s apartment.
“An extensive investigation by Montgomery County Detectives and Lower Merion Police, assisted by Upper Moreland Township Police, Abington Township Police, Cheltenham Township Police, Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and Philadelphia Police, uncovered the extensive nature of the gun manufacturing and trafficking organization led by Fulforth, Roberts and Fuentes,” DA Steele said. “This organization also involved Hiller, Jackson, Rodriguez, Simpson and Staten. The ghost gun used in the Lower Merion homicide is believed to be one of many manufactured by Fulforth. The investigation found that this organization frequently engaged in the unlawful transfer of factory-made firearms, but the organization also produced and sold a significant portion of the group’s inventory.”
The investigation found that Fulforth had established a “highly sophisticated, clandestine firearms production facility” which he used to engineer and assemble multiple types of manufactured firearms including AR-pistols. None of the firearms included a serial number which made them difficult to trace, DA Steele said.
Fulforth was also found to be producing machine gun conversion devices using 3D printers that were sold pre-installed in the weapons. He and his co-conspirators offered these devices to their customers for at least $1,000. The defendants procured, made and sold firearm suppressors and attached them to the modified weapons, producing automatic firing capabilities with the sound dampening of suppressors, officials said.
“By illegally selling factory-made firearms and manufacturing numerous types of firearms, silencers and machine gun conversion devices, this gun trafficking organization was arming criminals, and they were further equipping criminals by 3D-printing and installing switches on the firearms they sold, transforming them into fully automatic machine guns making them exponentially more deadly,” said DA Steele. “Added to that were their 3D-printed suppressors and firearms ‘lowers’ to which they purchased receivers and other necessary parts to manufacture ghost guns—untraceable firearms with no serial number. So now we have ‘silent machine guns’ in our communities, which provides an inordinate risk to community members and law enforcement officials across Montgomery County and the Commonwealth. The danger of this type of gun trafficking organization is huge and simply unmeasurable.”
The defendants are charged with dozens of felonies related to gun trafficking, including felony counts of Corrupt Organization; Dealing in the Proceeds of Unlawful Activity; Criminal Use of a Communications Facility; Illegal Sale or Transfer of Firearms and Criminal Conspiracy.
All eight defendants are in the process of being arrested on the new charges and will be arraigned, DA Steele said. At arraignment, bail will be set for the five defendants who are not charged with murder.
A preliminary hearing on the gun trafficking charges will be scheduled at the time of the arraignment.
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Photos: Montco DA