By Forum Staff
A Jamaica woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for heading a ring that sold illegal guns and ammunition to undercover cops, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.
Jessica Heyliger, 39, pleaded guilty on July 11 to criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro on Tuesday sentenced her to 10 years in prison plus five years’ post-release supervision.
Heyliger was the main defendant and principal dealer of weapons in the case that had been dubbed Operation Tiger by the NYPD.
Sharod King, Heyliger’s codefendant and the sole salesman of guns to an undercover officer, had previously pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree and was sentenced in May to nine years in prison. Additional codefendants Mitchell Myree and Laquan Benson previously pleaded guilty in connection with this case.
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Heyliger “trafficked illegal lethal weapons with no regard for the bloodshed and misery they could visit upon our communities,” DA Katz said.
According to the charges:
The investigation into this gun-trafficking ring began in September 2019 when King sold a handgun and two large capacity ammunition feeding devices to an undercover police officer. In December 2019, the court authorized electronic surveillance on King’s mobile phone.
During the investigation, which concluded in July 2020, the defendants sold 23 guns in 13 separate transactions, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition and more than 10 high-capacity magazines, to an undercover police officer.
All the weapons and ammunition that were sold by the ring were acquired by Heyliger, who brought them up from the south via the Iron Pipeline.
“This defendant trafficked illegal lethal weapons with no regard for the bloodshed and misery they could visit upon our communities. She is being held accountable for her callous acts,” Katz said. “We will not relent in our efforts to stop illegal weapons from coming into our communities.”
