A New Jersey man is to be sentenced to prison this week for his role in a gun-trafficking scheme that stretched from Columbus to the East Coast. Federal investigators say they'll aggressively pursue others who buy guns illegally in Ohio and sell them, often to criminals, in New Jersey and other states.

A New Jersey man is to be sentenced to prison this week for his role in a gun-trafficking scheme that stretched from Columbus to the East Coast.

Federal investigators say they�ll aggressively pursue others who buy guns illegally in Ohio and sell them, often to criminals, in New Jersey and other states.

Terrance Laboo, 40, of Woodlynne, admitted in a Camden, N.J., federal courtroom that he was the eastern endpoint in the trafficking case.

Prosecutors said that three Columbus men bought guns from legitimate shops in central Ohio and sold them to a middleman who sold them to Laboo.

�There�s money to be made selling guns to people who otherwise can�t get guns,� said David Coulson, a senior special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago. �There�s a market out there.�

The Columbus men � William E. Johnson II, Joseph L. Berry and Antonio R. Berry � await sentencing in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Johnson, 25, of 698 Wedgewood Dr. on the West Side, and Joseph Berry, 25, of 4124 Dundee Ave. on the East Side, pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally purchase firearms and to making false statements during a firearms purchase.

Antonio Berry, 22, of 4092 Larry Place on the East Side, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge, which carries a maximum five-year prison term. The false-statement charge has a maximum 10-year prison term.

Each of the men bought guns from sources that included gun stores, pawnshops and individuals, court records show. They claimed on required federal forms that they were buying the guns for themselves.

From October 2009 to June 2010, they sold the guns to Joshua �Trent� Jackson, 33, of Willingboro, N.J., according to records.

A criminal complaint against Jackson says he bought about 280 guns from Ohio sellers, transported them in a rental car or Greyhound bus and sold them in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. He�s facing federal charges in New Jersey for selling guns without a federal firearms license.

Federal prosecutors and ATF investigators would not talk about the case.

Coulson said firearms trafficking is common among drug dealers and gangs, in part because anyone who has been convicted of a felony can�t legally own a gun, �so they resort to secondary means,� he said. �It�s always going on, and we take it very seriously.�

Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said criminals who �exploit the laws of other states to bring guns into New Jersey fuel a culture of violence that destroys communities and lives.�

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave Ohio a �D� last year for its gun laws, noting that it doesn�t require a background check when a firearm is transferred between two private parties and doesn�t limit the number of handguns purchased at one time.

The group awarded New Jersey an �A� because the state requires a seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases, limits such purchases to one per month and requires a permit to purchase any handgun.

A Dispatch analysis of guns legally purchased in Ohio in 2012 found that 1,601 of them were linked to crimes in other states.

Also in federal court in Columbus, search warrants have been filed in connection with two men suspected of being unlicensed firearms dealers at Ohio gun shows.

In December searches, ATF agents seized 122 firearms and about $1,900 from one man�s van and more than 130 firearms and about $5,300 from another man�s SUV.

Coulson said gun dealers must be federally licensed unless they are selling a private gun collection.

kgray@dispatch.com

@reporterkathy