Alabaman, three locals charged with shipping guns up to Boston

A man in Alabama has been indicted on charges he bought at least 24 guns that he then re-sold to Massachusetts men who would bring them to Boston in their luggage on a bus.

The indictment against Brandon "Bamboozle" Moore is the latest example of somebody from a state with few controls on gun purchases being charged with shipping them to Massachusetts, where, even under the recent Supreme Court ruling, people still need a license to own a gun. In March, a Tennessee man was arrested at the South Station bus terminal lugging a backpack officials say held 11 guns, 16 magazines and ammunition.

Moore pleaded not guilty in a Zoomed arraignment in US District Court in Boston today to conspiracy to illegally transport firearms across state lines and to illegally transporting firearms across state lines. He was already facing charges of unlawful transport of firearms and defrauding the US in Alabama federal court - for one gun he allegedly had another person buy for him, since he has a past conviction that would bar him under federal law from buying a gun. He is scheduled for trial in that case on Aug. 29.

According to the indictment in Boston court, Moore bought guns between January, 2020 and May, 2021 in exchange for money, marijuana and sometimes other guns for the three men, none licensed to import or own guns into the state and one permanently barred from owning a gun because of a past conviction.

The principal purposes and objectives of the conspiracy were to obtain firearms in Alabama that the defendants could not lawfully obtain or possession in Massachusetts, to obtain firearms for less money than they cost in Massachusetts, to obtain firearms for themselves, to distribute firearms to associates in Massachusetts, to make money, and to conceal actions from law enforcement.

At least two of the three local men would travel to Alabama to pick up the guns, stuff them in luggage, then ride back to South Station, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges the three kept some of the guns for themselves but "distributed others to their associates in Boston."

The names of the three men are blacked out in the indictment because they have yet to be arrested.

The indictment alleges that Moore had another person actually buy the guns for him. The Alabama indictment names Tabitha Bandy-Evans as Moore's "straw" purchaser, specifically for a gun she allegedly bought at a Montgomery, AL pawn shop, then turned over to Moore.

According to the Boston indictment, in the first gun purchase, Moore himself traveled to Boston on Jan. 8, 2020, to hand over a gun. A few months later, though, one of the Boston men contacted him and then, a couple days later, took a bus down to Montgomery, the indictment alleges. The next week, the indictment continues, Moore arranged to have somebody else buy seven guns at Alabama gun stores, which he sold to the man from Boston, who returned back to Boston by bus with the guns - plus five or six others Moore had sold him.

Over the next couple of weeks, Moore had his associate buy more guns, which he'd send photos of to the men in Boston. This time, two of them took the bus to Montgomery, from which they returned with another 12 to 15 guns.

Moore now faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted on the Boston charges.

Boston indictment (4.2M PDF).
Alabama indictment (191k PDF).

Innocent, etc.