A Prospect Lefferts Gardens man has been indicted for allegedly manufacturing ghost guns in his apartment with parts he purchased online, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Wednesday.
Dexter Nurse, 49, was formally charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, prohibition on unfinished frames or receivers and unlawful possession of pistol ammunition before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew Sciarrino. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top charge.
“This defendant allegedly assembled four handguns and acquired the parts and tools to make more, illustrating the ease with which someone can obtain and make these lethal and untraceable weapons, and the increasing threat they pose to public safety,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Eradicating deadly ghost guns from Brooklyn is a priority for my office, and we are committed to holding accountable anyone who traffics, makes, or possesses them.”
Nurse is accused of assembling four handguns and acquiring the parts and tools to make more, following a 10-month long investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Ghost Gun Unit into the use of privately-made firearms without serial numbers.
Four fully assembled handguns, 9mm rounds of ammunition, and various tools and polymer parts to assemble additional weapons and ammunition were recovered from Nurse’s apartment last November. A machine press to manufacture ammunition was also found at the scene, according to the DA’s office.
So-called “ghost guns” are usually assembled from unregulated parts purchased online. With no serial numbers or other identifiers, ghost guns are usually impossible to trace after a crime has been committed. Last month, 206 firearms — including five ghost guns — were turned in at a gun buyback hosted by Gonzalez.
The investigation also claims that Nurse made 56 firearm-related purchases on eBay for ghost gun parts that were allegedly shipped to his home on Lefferts Avenue in Flatbush.
Nurse’s bail was continued at $250,000 bond. He is due back in court on April 11.
