Delco Woman Arrested For Illegal Gun Buys: DA's Office

A Delaware County woman has been arrested after purchasing two guns – one being a 9mm fitted with a 50 round drum – for her boyfriend, who is not legally permitted to possess firearms, Delaware Count District Attorney Jack Whelan said Wednesday.

Erika Kulp, 23, of Aston, has been charged with the illegal purchase and transfer of two handguns to individual not permitted to possess firearms; tampering with public record/information; and criminal conspiracy, all felonies of the third degree, the DA's office said.

Kulp faces a five-year minimum mandatory sentence under the Brad Fox Law if she is convicted of the charges, according to the DA's office.

Kulp's arrest is the result of a joint investigation by the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the DA's office said.

The investigation began on July 8, when a Chester Police Officer was in the area of the 1000 block of Thomas Street in Chester for an unrelated investigation where he found a 9mm Glock 26 handgun fitted with a fully-loaded 50-round drum magazine, the DA's office said.

CID and ATF investigators later determined the gun was registered to Kulp, according to the DA's office. Aston police the investigators provided information regarding a domestic disturbance that occurred between Kulp and her boyfriend on April 12, which led police to seize a 9mm Glock 26 and a Smith & Wesson Walther .380 handgun from her residence, the DA's office said. Both guns were returned to Kulp on later that month, the DA's office said.

CID and ATF investigators went to Kulp's home on Aug. 17 interview her about the guns, where Kulp admitted she had not initialization been truthful with detectives, according to the DA's office.

Kulp admitted that she had purchased two firearms for her boyfriend, who she knew was not able to purchase guns because he had been previously committed to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation and confirmed in her statement to investigators that the purchase of both guns were at the request of and paid in cash by her boyfriend, the DA's office said.

Kulp also admitted to providing false information on the ATF and Pennsylvania State forms, on which she falsely stated that she was the actual buyer of the firearm when in fact she was buying it for someone else who could not purchase firearms, the DA's office said.

Kulp told investigators that she purchased, for her boyfriend, the 9mm Glock 26 in December 2015 and purchased the Smith & Wesson Walther .380 gun in June 2015, the DA's office said. Kulp also stated that it was her boyfriend's idea to falsely report a stolen gun in Sharon Hill, if she was ever questioned about the purchases, the DA's office said.

'We know that the vast majority of the illegal guns on the streets used for violence and crime are a result of straw purchases," Whelan said in a press release. "In the case of Erika Kulp, she falsified information for her boyfriend and illegally purchased two potentially dangerous weapons, including one that ended in drug-related crime. If you an individual engages in the illegal exchange of firearms in Delaware County, we will arrest and prosecute them and they are going to spend a substantial amount of time in prison."

Deputy District Attorney George B. Dawson is prosecuting the case, according to the DA's office.

Images via Delaware County District Attorney's Office