Accused Gun Traffickers Sold Firearms Near Brooklyn School, DA Says

BROOKLYN, NY — A group of men stand accused of selling dozens of firearms across Brooklyn and Queens, including blocks away from a kindergarten through eighth grade public school, in a months-long gun and drug trafficking scheme, officials announced this week.

Five Brooklyn men — Jamel Clarke, 38, Dwayne Harris, 36, Rayon Lovett, 35, Owen Welch, 42, and his brother Ronald Welch, 47 — were arrested and charged this week after prosecutors accused them of selling 28 firearms, including multiple semi-automatic and assault rifles andso-called ghost guns, near churches, schools and Prospect Park, the Queens District Attorney's office announced Wednesday.

Harris and another Brooklyn man, Pheod Khan, 42, were also hit with charges in a related drug trafficking scheme, the District Attorney's office said. A third person also accused of trafficking cocaine is still on the loose, officials said.

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, said the men are responsible for "directly contributing to the cycles of gun violence and drug abuse," noting that at least two weapons sold had previously been used in four shootings across Brooklyn.

"These arrests demonstrate the commitment by this Office and our law enforcement partners to save lives by stopping the flow of illegal firearms and narcotics into our communities," he said of the takedown.

The gun and drug trafficking conspiracy dates back to at least September of last year, when an NYPD officer went undercover as part of law enforcement's takedown efforts, prosecutors said.

Over the course of eight months, the men stand accused of selling the undercover officer about 28 guns and over 1,000 grams of crack cocaine — often in broad-daylight deals from vehicles parked in residential Brooklyn neighborhoods, like Prospect Park South. Other deals happened blocks away from P.S. 181 in East Flatbush and near Prospect Park, officials said.

Prosecutors contend that in some instances the dealers walked down public streets carrying bags of weapons past unsuspecting New Yorkers.

A couple of the men charged in the case have existing criminal records, according to Peace.

Khan, for instance, was on parole during the span of the trafficking scheme after pleading guilty in January 2020 to weapons charges in connection to a murder.

Almost all the men charged were put behind bars ahead of trial, officials said.