Federal Charges Filed Against Union City Man

UNION CITY, CA — Terrence Phillips, 39, of Union City, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in a plot that smuggled more than 500 illegal guns into California to be sold on the Black Market, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento.

All five have been arrested.

The other co-conspirators are:

• Jerrell Lawson, 31, of Sacramento
• Aisha Hoggatt, 29, of Sacramento
• Malek Williams, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia
• James Gordley, 32, of Modesto

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to unlawfully deal in firearms and unlawful dealing in firearms. Lawson, Hoggatt, Williams and Phillips are also charged with transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident, and unlawful mailing of a firearm. Lawson is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to the criminal complaint, between November 2019 and October 2021, Lawson and his co-conspirators purchased over 500 firearms for more than $162,000. Lawson would broker firearms transactions in Georgia over the internet, and Williams, a Georgia resident with a license to carry a concealed firearm, would pick up firearms in person and mail the firearms to various locations in California at Lawson’s direction. Some of the firearms went to individuals that are prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions. Hoggatt worked with Lawson to coordinate the purchase, mailing, and distribution of the firearms. Phillips and Gordley also distributed the firearms in California.

The investigation began when a firearm used in a shooting in Sacramento was traced to the last known sale by a federally licensed dealer in Georgia. A subsequent sale of the firearm led to Lawson’s organization. Lawson and his co-conspirators used coded language to traffic firearms and moved money using a variety of financial institutions. During the investigation, packages destined for Lawson and other co-conspirators were found to contain firearms, ammunition, knives, and brass knuckles, among other things.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Sacramento Region/ San Francisco Bay Area Cross-Jurisdictional Firearms Trafficking Strike Force Initiative all participated in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Pearson, Justin Lee, and Alexis Klein are prosecuting the case.

If convicted, the defendants face the following maximum penalties: five years in prison on each count for conspiracy to unlawfully deal in firearms, unlawful dealing in firearms and transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident, and two years in prison on each count for unlawful mailing of a firearm. Lawson faces an additional maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.