Man Gets 15 Years In Gun Smuggling Operation He Thought Was Linked To Hamas
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A former teacher was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday, for his part in a firearms sale and cigarette smuggling ring in which he thought the proceeds would help the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Theophilis Burroughs, 54, was sentenced in the Bronx Thursday after pleading guilty to criminal sale of a firearm, money laundering, criminal tax fraud and conspiracy, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office.
Prosecutors say the former music teacher at Stuyvesant High School in Lower Manhattan – who lives in New Jersey -- arranged to sell to undercover officers a small cache of weapons held in a storage facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Prosecutors say Burroughs thought the undercover officers were connected to Hamas and expressed support for it. Burroughs still faces gun, cigarette and drug charges in New Jersey.
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