Philly Man Sent To Prison For Straw Purchase Of 25 Guns In Bucks

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A Philadelphia man was sentenced on Monday, Jan. 22 to state prison for the straw purchase of more than two dozen firearms in Bucks County.

Appearing before Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman, Bruce Anthony Smalley, 27, was sentenced to 7 ½ to 16 years in state prison. He has been incarcerated since September 2022.

Smalley pleaded guilty in August to making false statements on firearm purchase forms, selling or transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person, and criminal conspiracy to sell or transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person, related to the straw purchase of 25 guns.

Smalley and co-defendant Malachi Bolling were arrested as part of an investigation by the Warwick Township Police Department, the Attorney General's Office, and Bucks County Detectives. Bolling received a similar sentence in July.

The investigation found that Smalley and Bolling purchased 21 firearms from April 22, 2022, to May 27, 2022. Prior to that, Smalley purchased four guns between 2019 and 2020.

The investigation began in May 2022 after Warwick Township police received a report of a man named Bruce Smalley purchasing two guns from Tanner’s Sports Center, then leaving the store to meet with two other men in a nearby parking lot. One of those men had been in the gun store earlier but left without buying anything.

During the investigation, detectives tracked Smalley’s gun purchases and found that he and co-defendant Bolling purchased 25 guns in Bucks County. Eight of the guns have since been recovered, including some during criminal investigations in Philadelphia.

When confronted, Smalley claimed that he no longer had the guns, but none of them were ever reported as stolen.

The investigation also found that Smalley and Bolling lied about their addresses when filling out the necessary forms to purchase a firearm.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office has focused resources on fully investigating and prosecuting those who illegally possess, purchase, manufacture, and traffic firearms. Last year, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office was awarded a federal Gun Violence Investigation and Prosecution grant that will further strengthen our efforts to remove illegal guns from the streets and hands of those who should not possess them.

This case was investigated by the Warwick Township Police Department, the Attorney General’s Office Gun Violence Task Force, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas C. Gannon prosecuted the case, with assistance from former Deputy District Attorney David A. Keightly Jr.