A man with local ties has been arrested and arraigned after being found with three pounds of ecstasy and more than 10 firearms.
34-year-old Von Harmon, who’s from Georgia but has family in Buffalo, was arrested after a seven-month operation spanning multiple states.
Harmon faces more than 20 charges, including criminal possession of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance, Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane said.
“These are dangerous weapons, the drugs are wreaking havoc on our community, quite frankly, and this is an important case. The US Attorney's office is in the process of completing their investigation," Keane said. "They've been working hand-in-hand with all of the partners that we mentioned, and I expect that within very short order, they may be filing their own charges.”
Law enforcement executed a warrant for Harmon's arrest Monday evening at a house on Madison Avenue.
Police allege that Harmon was trafficking firearms to Buffalo and planned multiple steps though different states to throw law enforcement off his trail. Harmon allegedly flew from Buffalo to Atlanta, then took a bus to bring the firearms as far as Cincinnati, and used multiple rental vehicles to get back to Buffalo.
The arrest is a key step to cracking down on local gun trafficking, Acting Police Commissioner Craig Macy said.
“There's not a lot of people that are bringing firearms into the city of Buffalo, right? But the ones that are, are doing it with some frequency, and this is a very big, impactful arrest to ultimately cut down on that," he said. "We always talk about wanting to get the dealers of anything, and this is one of those cases.”
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years, and Harmon next appears in city court on Monday. He previously was arrested and convicted in 2019 for the criminal possession of 22 firearms.
