MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—A city of Newburgh resident and a Georgia state resident pleaded guilty in June for their roles in the largest gun-trafficking case in county history, the Orange County district attorney’s office reported.
Shomaray Lane, 33, of Newburgh, pleaded guilty on June 12 to selling 2 ounces of cocaine by himself and in cohort with others. The district attorney’s office said that under his plea deal, he is likely to receive a sentence of nine years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
Part of Lane’s deal is the forfeiture of $42,000 and a vehicle.
The district attorney’s office also announced that on June 26, Dijoun Lawrence, 23, of Georgia, pleaded guilty to illegally supplying firearms from Georgia to New York as part of a larger network. It is expected that Lawrence will receive a plea deal sentence of 13 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision.
Both men will be sentenced in August.
The operation focused on an “iron pipeline” conspiracy in Newburgh, where a ring of people was shipping guns from Georgia and Pennsylvania via FedEx to sell illegally in New York. The firearms were shipped to a closed restaurant in Newburgh called The Kitchen, allegedly operated by Christopher Brown, 40, of Newburgh, who faces six charges, including criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a firearm.
An iron pipeline is a trafficking route for illegal firearms from states with looser gun laws, such as Georgia, to states with strict gun laws, such as New York.
According to the attorney’s office, Lawrence was one of the people shipping firearms, mostly handguns, to Brown, and Lane was one of his narcotics suppliers in the area.
Undercover police bought 55 firearms and 700 grams of cocaine and fentanyl from Brown as they were investigating the ring. A total of 67 illegal guns and 1.5 kilos of cocaine and fentanyl were recovered by the end of the operation.
District Attorney David Hoovler said in a press release that there is a strong connection between the sale of illegal narcotics and the dealing, possession, and use of illegal firearms. The large-scale operation has shown that the cooperation of multiple agencies and federal partners can produce strong results, he said.
