United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CAMDEN, N.J. - Carl J. Kotowski, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, and William E. Fitzpatrick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced a Carbon County, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced today to 90 months in prison for conspiring to illegally traffic over 20 firearms - including assault rifles and other high-capacity weapons - into the Camden, N.J. area.

Darnel Johns, 49, of Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to deal in firearms without a federal firearms license and one count of possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Judge Kugler imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

Johns admitted that in the fall and winter of 2014, he conspired with co-defendant David Potts, 45, of Camden, to illegally sell at least 22 guns. The firearms included a sawed-off shotgun, multiple high-capacity assault-style rifles, and a high-capacity assault-style pistol with a 30-round magazine. Several of the firearms were stolen and had obliterated serial numbers.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Kugler sentenced Johns to three years of supervised release.
Potts previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced on April 10, 2017 to 121 months in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Camden Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski ; special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and (ATF), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John B. Devito, Newark Field Division, and Essam Rabadi, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, with the investigation. He additionally credited the ATF Charlotte Field Division under the direction of Special Agent in Charge C. J. Hyman; investigators with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo; detectives of the Camden County Police Department, under the direction of Chief Scott J. Thomson; the Newark Division of Public Safety’s Ballistics Laboratory; and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office Ballistics Laboratory, with the investigation.
He additionally credited the U.S. Marshals Service, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos, Jr.; investigators under the Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; the New Jersey State Police’s Metro South Unit, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes; the New Jersey State Parole Board, under the direction of Chairman James T. Plousis; the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Gilbert L. Wilson; and the Cherry Hill, Pennsauken and Maple Shade Police Departments.