Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

International gun-smuggling operation puts Metro Atlanta men in prison

In all they sold more than 70 firearms, prosecutors said.
In all they sold more than 70 firearms, prosecutors said.
By Ben Brasch
April 18, 2018

A fourth metro Atlanta man has been sentenced for his role in an online gun-running operation that shipped to more than 10 countries.

Sherman Jackson, 28, on Tuesday got a year and nine months in prison followed by two years of supervised released, federal prosecutors said in a news release. The other three were previously sentenced.

Jackson created a vendor page online under the name “CherryFlavor” on the darknet website Black Market Reloaded.

READ | Atlanta couple sexually trafficked 13-year-old runaway online in Cobb

The darknet is a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized anonymity-providing tools, most notably the Tor Browser.

Tor lets buyers access darknet sites like Black Market Reloaded where sellers like CherryFlavor sold guns.

In early 2013, Jackson and the three others ran CherryFlavor and started advertising guns. They bought the guns online and sold them to international buyers at extremely marked-up prices — like a $500 Glock pistol they flipped for $3,400.

READ | Cops: Alabama jailer sexually assaulted Cobb, Fulton women at gunpoint

In all they sold more than 70 firearms, prosecutors said.

Jackson and the other men — Gerren Johnson, 28 of Austell; Brendan Person, 29 of Atlanta; William Jackson, 29 of East Point — all pleaded guilty to their charges.

Their sentences range from two years of probation to 2 years and nine months of prison.

Agencies the size of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office to the Dutch National Undercover Team and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were involved.

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About the Author

Ben Brasch is the reporter tasked with keeping Fulton County government accountable. The Florida native moved to Atlanta for a job with The AJC. If there's something important to you going on in Fulton, he wants to know about it. Help him better metro Atlanta by dropping a line, anonymously or otherwise.

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