Crime & Safety
Ex-Navy Member Sentenced; Helped NJ Couple Get Guns In Virginia
A Virginia resident bought five guns at a store, then gave them to a NJ couple. One was later recovered during an arrest in Essex County.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A former member of the U.S. Navy was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release after she helped a New Jersey couple illegally buy guns in Virginia, prosecutors said.
Tesora Amanda Cortes Trejorojas, 24, of Norfolk, Virginia, previously pleaded guilty to an indictment charging her with one count of conspiring with others to transport and receive in New Jersey firearms purchased and obtained outside the state, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to prosecutors, in November 2017, Trejorojas engaged in text messages with Azia Sinclair, agreeing to purchase firearms for Sinclair and her boyfriend, Shyheim Tyson, who were both residents of New Jersey.
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On Nov. 11, 2017, Sinclair and Tyson drove from New Jersey to Trejorojas’ residence in Norfolk. All three went to a gun store in Norfolk, where Trejorojas purchased five semiautomatic handguns, as well as 200 rounds of ammunition, with cash provided by Sinclair and Tyson, prosecutors said.
The next day, Sinclair and Tyson drove back to New Jersey with the five handguns and ammunition, prosecutors said.
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About five hours after Sinclair and Tyson arrived back in New Jersey, a person was arrested in Orange after police officers responded to the sound of gunshots. During the arrest, police officers recovered one of the five handguns that Sinclair and Tyson had transported from Virginia to New Jersey, prosecutors said.
In March 2018, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Sinclair’s residence in Newark, and found another of the guns that Sinclair and Tyson had transported from Virginia to New Jersey.
Tyson and Sinclair both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and receive in New Jersey firearms purchased and obtained outside the State of New Jersey. Tyson was sentenced on Jan. 7, 2019, to 37 months in prison. Sinclair was sentenced on Dec. 11, 2019, to 19 months in prison, prosecutors said.
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