A Bucks County judge sentenced a ghost gun manufacturer and firearms trafficker on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, to 15 to 30 years in state prison.
President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. sentenced, Russell Byron Norton, 32, of Bensalem, following his December arrest by Bristol Township Police and the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force. Investigators charged Norton with more firearms sales and possession offenses than anyone else in recent Bucks County history.
Detectives investigating the Pentz Drug and Gun Distribution Organization identified Norton as a manufacturer of privately made firearms, also known as “ghost guns”, including AR-15 rifles, AK-47 rifles, and other different caliber handguns, which he possessed, built, sold and/or delivered.
Norton pleaded guilty in August to 82 counts of the following crimes: corrupt organizations; prohibited possession of a firearm; altering or obliterating a mark of identification; possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturer number; firearm ownership – duty of other persons; and firearms not to be carried without a license.