Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Case of 100 handguns:
Police arrest two felons

Charges that the Massachusetts men plotted to buy guns in Maine and sell them back home may revive a touchy issue.

By Trevor Maxwell tmaxwell@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND — Two men with criminal records in Massachusetts have been charged in federal court with illegally buying handguns in Maine.

Joseph Burns of Lynn, Mass., and Marvin Davis of Boston were arrested March 4 in Wells during a sting operation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, a York County man told federal agents that he had sold about 100 handguns to Burns since September or early October.

Agents had additional information that Burns had been buying guns in Maine, destroying the serial numbers and reselling them in Massachusetts.

On March 4, Burns allegedly drove Davis to the park-and-ride lot off the Maine Turnpike in Wells to buy guns from the York County man, who has not been charged. Agents monitored the transaction and arrested Burns and Davis after the men allegedly paid $600 for a 9mm pistol and a .380-caliber pistol.

Both men are prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior convictions. Davis was convicted in 2006 of armed robbery, armed assault with intent to kill and drug distribution in Boston. Burns was convicted in 2005 for violating an abuse prevention order and malicious destruction of property.

Burns, 27, and Davis, 24, face federal charges of being felons in possession of firearms, and conspiracy to transfer or sell firearms to an out-of-state resident. They face as much as 10 years in prison if convicted.

Burns was released Wednesday on a $10,000 property bond. Davis continues to be held in the Cumberland County Jail in Portland. He made a brief appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich. A bail hearing and probable cause hearing were rescheduled for Monday afternoon.

Peter Rodway, Davis' court-appointed lawyer, told Rich that he needs more time to discuss the case with Davis and Davis' mother. Rodway might ask the judge to let Davis live with his mother until the case is resolved. Federal prosecutors will seek to keep Davis in custody.

The flow of guns from Maine to Massachusetts has been a source of controversy.

In 2006, an advocacy group put a message on a 250-foot billboard near Fenway Park in Boston, claiming that Maine's lax gun-control laws were helping to fuel violence in the city.

Massachusetts requires buyers of guns from private sellers to pass the same criminal background checks required of buyers from federally licensed firearms dealers.

In Maine and several other states, private buyers of firearms must supply only proof of residency in that state. Recent proposals to toughen the regulations in Maine have failed in the Legislature.

Stanley Jenkins, 22, a member of a Boston street gang, was sentenced last year to 17½ years in prison for trafficking guns and drugs between Boston and Maine.

Jenkins recruited people to buy more than 20 guns through the popular classified bulletin Uncle Henry's, based in Augusta. He then sold some of the guns and distributed others to members of his gang, the Franklin Hill Giants.

Jenkins told investigators that he usually doubled or tripled his money by buying the guns in Maine and selling them in Boston.

Soon after Jenkins was sentenced, the Boston Herald announced that it would stop distributing Uncle Henry's in the city.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com