Pennsylvania man faces new felony charges over gun found in New Jersey
Prosecutors say Benjamin Ford bought the weapon after three prior firearms were already recovered by police.
By Kaito Sokolov ·
The state Office of Attorney General filed two new felony firearms charges against Benjamin Ford on October 21. Ford, 44, is a resident of Ross who is currently awaiting trial on earlier trafficking accusations. The new complaint focuses on a specific handgun that records show he purchased in Marshall, Pennsylvania, which was later found in New Jersey.
Ford has been accumulating firearms for over a decade. The newest complaint notes that he bought 205 handguns in Pennsylvania during this period. Law enforcement agents have recovered seven of those weapons in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. For each of the seven recovered guns, Ford was the last known buyer. Each firearm was found in the possession of individuals who were not legally permitted to own them. Crime labs restored the serial numbers on all seven weapons because the original numbers had been obliterated.
The specific weapon in the new charges is a used Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0. Ford bought it on October 23, 2022, at Keystone Shooting Center in Marshall. This purchase occurred after three of his previous firearms had already been recovered by law enforcement. Investigators found the gun on a man in Newark, New Jersey, on March 20 of this year. A New Jersey forensics lab restored the obliterated serial number. Ford had signed state police paperwork confirming he was the actual buyer of the firearm.
The Attorney General originally charged Ford in March. Those initial charges stemmed from six handguns recovered in three states. Fourteen months later, the scope of the investigation has widened. A preliminary hearing in April dismissed three of the original six felony charges. Ford was held for trial on the remainder. He has remained in the Allegheny County Jail without bond since his arrest. Court records show a status hearing for those original charges is set for February 22.
Ford is originally from New Jersey, according to the complaint. Records show that only two of the 205 handguns had sales, transfers, or trades to another buyer after Ford purchased them. There are no such records for the other 203. Ford did not report any of the recovered firearms as stolen. This includes a 9 mm handgun he bought in November 2021, which police recovered during a traffic stop in Swissvale in January 2025. Ford claimed a break-in at his home took that specific gun, but Ross police had no reports of firearms being stolen from his residence.
Authorities searched Ford's home on March 26, the day he was arrested. None of the 205 firearms appeared in that search. Investigators discovered the seventh recovered firearm, the one from Marshall, only after Ford's arrest. Court records indicate Ford was denied bail and deemed a threat to the community when arraigned on the new charges on October 22. A preliminary hearing for the new accusations is scheduled for November 4 before District Judge Matthew J. Brungo. Ford's attorney, Timothy Joseph Lyon, did not respond to a request for comment on October 26.
