A Ross man is accused of trafficking firearms after six of more than 200 handguns he bought over 11 years were recovered by police in three states, according to charges filed by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Benjamin Ford, 43, was charged Thursday with six felony counts of selling or transferring firearms to persons not permitted to possess them.
In each of the six instances, records showed that Ford was the last known buyer of the weapon, and each was recovered from different people not legally allowed to buy or possess a firearm, the attorney general alleges in a criminal complaint. The serial numbers of all six had been obliterated, but a crime lab was able to restore them.
Of the six, three were recovered in or near Pittsburgh, two in New Jersey, and one in New York’s Manhattan Borough, according to the complaint.
The attorney general noted that Ford is originally from northern New Jersey, and that the two guns recovered in that state were in the northern area, and that New York City is close to New Jersey.
Ford was arraigned Thursday and denied bail as a danger to the community, according to court records. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 8 before District Judge Richard G. Opiela.
Ford’s attorney, Phil Dilucente, said he is “fervently preparing” for the hearing. He had no comment regarding the allegations against Ford.
“I can tell you that I do not believe that it is against the law to purchase hundreds if not thousands of guns,” Dilucente said. “Hopefully, at the preliminary hearing, we’ll hear more of the alleged facts surrounding this very serious case.”
As the Attorney General Office’s investigation of Ford developed, the number of handguns Ford legally bought in Pennsylvania increased from 88 to 205 between 2013 and 2024, the criminal complaint states. Ford bought 18 from 2013 through 2017, and there was no record of purchases from 2017 to April 2020. Then, from April 2020 to the present, Ford purchased 187 handguns. The most he bought in one year, 89, was in 2021.
There were records for only two of the guns being sold or transferred to another buyer after Ford bought them, the complaint states.
The attorney general said there were several indicators of straw purchasing and firearms trafficking in Ford’s habits, including repeated buying of the same manufacturer — 38 Taurus, 34 Glocks, 17 Rugers, 16 Springfields and 16 Smith & Wessons — and the same caliber — 63% were 9 mm — within a short period or on the same date.
Another sign was Ford buying firearms from different stores, purportedly to avoid mandatory reporting of multiple purchases. The attorney general cited six instances of Ford buying multiple handguns in one day or over a few to several days, including buying eight at three different stores from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7, 2021, and four from two stores from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16, 2024.
The attorney general found that several of the firearms Ford bought were used, which would make an illegal sale more profitable, the complaint states.
Ford never reported to anyone, including Ross police, that any of his guns had been stolen, the complaint states.
A special agent with the Attorney General’s Office assigned to the Allegheny County Gun Violence Task Force interviewed Ford at his home in May, the complaint states.
The agent asked Ford about one of the six recovered guns, a CZ 9 mm Ford bought on Nov. 16, 2021, that police found at a crime scene in Swissvale on Jan. 19, 2025. Ford claimed it had been stolen from his house in a break-in a few years earlier, but that he never reported the theft, according to the complaint.
Ford told the agent he believed he had bought “20 or so” guns and appeared “very uncomfortable” at hearing the actual number, which at that time was known to be 88, the complaint states.
Ford did not answer when asked whether he had sold guns to anyone who could not buy them and became visibly shaken and began to sweat, the complaint states.
When the agent told Ford he wanted to make sure none of his guns had been used in a shooting, hurting someone or worse, the complaint says that “appeared to strike a nerve with Ford because he hung his head low, took a deep sigh, then walked back to a chair against his house and sat down,” the complaint states.
The agent said Ford “appeared distraught” and “appeared to have a guilty conscience,” the complaint states.
The interview ended at Ford’s request.