RI Man Gets 2 Years In Prison For Selling Guns On The Street

WARWICK, RI — A Warwick man was sentenced to prison Wednesday after being convicted of illegally buying and guns and selling them on the streets of Rhode Island and elsewhere.

Ademola Kayode, 30, was found guilty of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance, false statement during purchase of firearms, and two counts of false statements to federal agents. He will serve two years in federal prison followed by three years of probation.

The jury ruled Kayode purchased at least 16 guns, in each case falsely stating on ATF forms that he was not using illegal drugs when, in fact, he was, and wasn't allowed to own a firearm. ATF agents reviewed thousands of Kayode’s text messages, emails, and other communications and learned Kayode regularly resold guns he purchased from licensed dealers to others for a higher price than he paid.

In June 2016, Kayode was surveilled by ATF agents as he left a licensed Rhode Island gun store after taking possession of four firearms. He later told investigators he took those guns, as well as others he purchased, to Georgia. Two of the guns were later recovered in Providence by Rhode Island State Police and the FBI, from people who weren't allowed to own them.

During an interview with ATF agents, Kayode was unable or refused to provide ATF agents with an accounting as to where the guns he had purchased could be located. Kayode said he brought the guns to Georgia and that they were in different places, that he used them in a music video and that he was planning to bring the guns back to Rhode Island.

In the same interview, after first denying he sold any guns at all, Kayode told investigators he did sell firearms to people he met through Armslist, an online firearms marketplace. Although Kayode purchased guns through Armslist, ATF agents found no evidence that Kayode actually sold any firearms on the website.

Two days after being interviewed by ATF agents, Kayode went to the Warwick Police Station and reported that a storage shed in his yard had been broken into. He said guns he bought in Rhode Island and Georgia, a leaf blower and a grass trimmer were stolen.

A Warwick police officer who responded to Kayode’s home testified at trial that they found no evidence of the shed having been broken into or of a safe having been in the shed.