Phila Male Gets Up To 25 Years For Straw Purchase and Child Porn
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Jermaine Bantum of Philadelphia was able to buy guns. So police said he purchased a lot of them and some of them were used in crimes like murder and assaults. He bought them for people that could not get one on their own. An investigation was started when a firearm was recovered in Upper Darby. That gun was traced to a murder in Philadelphia. Bantum was the person who bought the gun, records showed.
He frequented gun ships in Lower Southampton, Warminster, Chalfont and Bristol Twp. He also went into Montgomery County to get guns. At least 13 guns were bought from 2018 until 2023. In June of this year, Bantum plead guilty to 68 counts of being a straw purchaser.
During the investigation into the gun sales, Bantum was arrested in July 2024. When detectives searched his phone, they found 77 photos and videos of child porn. During his heari8ng, he also entered a guilty plea to posessing child pornography, authorities said.
He was sentenced to 12 1/2 to 25 years in state prison for those crimes, which are all felonies. He must also register as a sex offender when he gets out of prison.