DOJ: Boston Man Convicted in Illegal Gun Running Scheme

Boston, MA - A Dorchester man will spend the next five years behind bars for a scheme to buy guns in New Hampshire stores and then sell them on the Boston streets, paying the weapons buyers with drugs, the Department of Justice said Friday.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Shayne Parker to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Parker was convicted in March of illegally transporting firearms and being a felon in possession of 50 rounds of ammunition. Parker already had several prior felony convictions.

A joint law enforcement investigation uncovered the scheme in spring 2014.

According to a DOJ press release: firearms were bought in gun stores in New Hampshire and transported to Massachusetts for sale on the streets of Boston. The New Hampshire purchasers of the firearms were paid with drugs for their help, the DOJ release said.

The result was 16 guns sold in Boston within three weeks, using three different straw purchasers, according to the DOJ.

Ronald Scott was convicted in New Hampshire for buying the guns and ammo, while Parker drove between locations, the DOJ said. Boston Police recovered guns and ammunition including a 9 mm. semi-automatic, .380 caliber semi-automatic weapon and 50 rounds of ammunition. The rounds had been purchased three weeks earlier at New Hampshire Dick's Sporting Goods location, then brought into Massachusetts by Parker, the DOJ said.