Pitman man admits role in scheme to smuggle guns from Georgia

CAMDEN – A Pitman man has admitted his role in a scheme to smuggle guns from Georgia to South Jersey.

Dylan Ianncelli, 28, was arrested in August 2021 after police in Mantua stopped a vehicle carrying 11 guns purchased one day earlier in Georgia, according to an account from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.

Police also found a 12th gun with a defaced serial number that had been purchased one week earlier, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

It alleged an accomplice, Jessy Hill of Dalton, Georgia, purchased the guns without disclosing she was buying them for others.

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Ianncelli and Hill, who had started a long-distance relationship after meeting online earlier that year, allegedly hoped for profits of more than $2,500 from selling the guns in South Jersey, a court filing alleges.

It says Mantua police, who stopped the couple’s vehicle for alleged traffic violations, had been alerted to the possible presence of weapons in the car by agents at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Ianncelli pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to make false statements in obtaining firearms and to illegally engage in the business of dealing in firearms.

He also admitted guilt to possession of firearms by a convicted felony. Ianncelli has five previous felony convictions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez scheduled sentencing for July 12 in Camden federal court.

Hill faces the same conspiracy charge.

The charge is only an allegation and she has not been convicted in the case.

Jim Walsh covers public safety, economic development and other beats for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Dylan Ianncelli accused of bringing guns from Georgia to South Jersey