Five Years in Prison for City Man who Sold Assault Rifle

A Newark man who was one of dozens charged in a statewide crackdown on gun trafficking was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa announced.

George Sutch, 27, must serve at least three years of his sentence after pleading guilty in March to a second-degree charge of unlawful possession of a weapon. He was sentenced in Middlesex County Superior Court.

On July 13, 2012, Sutch sold a Ruger Mini-14 Assault Rifle to an undercover State Police detective at the Cheesequake service area off the Garden State Parkway in Sayreville. Sutch received $450 for the weapon.

The Ruger Mini-14, which was designed primarily for the military, has also been used in a mass shooting in Norway in 2011 that claimed almost 80 lives. 

Less than a week later, Sutch also sold a .25-caliber handgun to an undercover detective in Lacey Township.  

Sutch and 56 others were charged in an operation launched by Chiesa targeting gun violence by focusing on the channels used to funnel guns into parts of the state with high levels of violent crime and locking up those involved in the illegal gun trade.

In 2012, the State Police Intelligence Section more than doubled the number of detectives assigned specifically to weapons trafficking, forming new weapons trafficking North and South Units, Chiesa also said.

Officials in Newark, where gun crime is virtually a daily occurrence, have said that practically none of the firearms seized by local law enforcement following criminal investigations are “legal” guns, meaning guns properly obtained and used by the registered owner.