TOWANDA, Pa. (WETM) – A Towanda woman has been charged with multiple felonies for illegally buying six guns for another person last year, one of which was later involved in a crime in Elmira, N.Y.
Shana Mcalmont, 37, was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police after the Pa. Attorney General’s office investigated the “suspected straw purchases” in June 2022, the criminal complaint filed against Mcalmont said. Police said Mcalmont admitted in early June 2022 to buying five or six guns for another person to support her drug addiction.
Mcalmont said the other person would tell her which type of gun to buy, go with her to the store to pick it out, and then the gun would be handed over in the parking lot, according to the affidavit. The guns were purchased from Up in Arms Shooting Supplies in East Smithfield, RGM, Inc. in Towanda and RF Firearms LLC in Sayre.
The six guns that police discovered Mcalmont had bought were:
- Walther P22, .22, purchased on June 16, 2021
- Ruger .22, purchased on June 16, 2021
- Kel Tec P3AT .380, purchased on June 22, 2021
- Taurus Millennium .45, purchased on June 22, 2021
- Ruger LCP II .380, purchased on July 10, 2021
- Ruger EC9S 9mm, purchased on June 29, 2021
Later in the summer, police said one of the guns was found to be involved in a crime in Elmira, N.Y.
Mcalmont was charged with five felony counts and one misdemeanor count of Sale or Transfer of Firearms. She was also charged with six felony counts of Materially False Written Statement for lying to the gun stores, saying she was the real buyer of the guns.
She was arraigned and taken to the Bradford County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bail. She has a preliminary hearing scheduled for August 31, 2022.
