‘Duffel bags of firearms.’ Cases show how guns flow from Kentucky to other states

Two men have pleaded guilty in connection with a conspiracy that illustrates how firearms move from Kentucky to states with tougher laws on buying guns.

Chadwick Ray pleaded guilty in federal court in London on Monday to a charge of conspiring to illegally transport guns between states.

Ray took part with two other men in an operation to transport firearms acquired in Kentucky and sell them to a person in Illinois in 2020 and 2021, according to his plea agreement.

A court document said the case against Ray is related to a separate indictment against Kevin Grubb and Jonathan Statkiewicz.

All three men live or have lived in Southern Kentucky.

According to his plea agreement, Ray bought firearms at flea markets or from private sellers, rather than from federally licensed dealers, to avoid creating a record of himself as a gun buyer.

Federal officials have said it is common for people in states with more stringent gun laws than Kentucky, including Illinois, to get guns from Kentucky that end up being used in crimes.

In 2019 alone, for instance, police recovered 172 “crime guns” in Chicago that originated in Kentucky.

One instance cited in Ray’s plea agreement involved a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol that he provided to another person in Somerset on Nov 12, 2020, to deliver to a buyer in Chicago. Police in a Chicago suburb took it from a suspect four days later, according to the plea.

In another case, Ray sold a pistol to someone else in the trafficking conspiracy that was later used in a shooting in Minneapolis, according to the court document.

Statkiewicz pleaded guilty last month to a conspiracy charge, admitting he “repeatedly” coordinated with Grubb to acquire guns that he understood would be transported to a person in Chicago.

The plea document does not list the specific number of guns involved in the trafficking ring, but says Statkiewicz “was paid to transport duffel bags full of firearms” to the accomplice in Chicago.

On one trip, the person in Chicago showed Statkiewicz a closet that had an estimated 50 pistols in it. Statkiewicz said the person “was illicitly reselling the firearms,” according to the plea.

Ray and Statkiewicz face up to five years in prison. Grubb is scheduled for trial in October.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the cases.