Boston Man, Kobe Smith, Pleads Guilty to Firearm Trafficking Conspiracy
The defendant, Kobe Smith, conspired to traffic firearms from Alabama into Massachusetts.
BOSTON, MO (STL.News) A Boston man, Kobe Smith, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to transport firearms from Alabama into Massachusetts illegally.
Kobe Smith, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport firearms illegally. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for June 12, 2024. Smith was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2022 along with co-defendants Jahquel Pringle, Jarmori Brown, and Brandon Moore.
Smith, Pringle, Brown, and Moore conspired to obtain at least 24 firearms from Alabama, where Moore lived, and then transport them to Boston. Smith would place orders with Moore for firearms. In two separate trips in July and August 2020, Pringle traveled from Boston to Alabama on a commercial bus to pick up the firearms from Moore and then transported the firearms, concealed within luggage, back to Boston. Pringle was joined by Brown for the August trip. At least seven of the firearms have been recovered from the streets of Boston and surrounding communities.
Smith is the fourth and final defendant in this case to plead guilty. In July 2023, Brown was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Pringle and Moore are awaiting sentencing.
The charge of conspiracy to illegally transport firearms carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. sentencing guidelines and statutes that govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. This case is being prosecuted by the Major Crimes Unit.
SOURCE: ATF
