November 17, 2023
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced today that a Mount Vernon man was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for the illegal possession of a loaded ghost gun.
DA Rocah said: “This outcome demonstrates our commitment to removing dangerous weapons from our communities, to prevent gun violence and our promise to vigorously prosecute those who illegally possess firearms.”
After a two-week trial in September, a jury found the defendant, Robert Culton, 43, guilty of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, both felonies. The defendant will also be subject to five years of post-release supervision.
On Aug. 15, 2021, at approximately 5:15 p.m., the defendant was in possession of an unserialized loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol—known as a ghost gun—on South 1st Avenue in Mount Vernon.
The Mount Vernon Police Department responded to the scene after being notified by the Westchester County Department of Public Safety’s Real Time Crime Center of possible gunshots near South 1st Avenue and East 3rd Street. During the investigation, police recovered the ghost gun in a nearby backyard and arrested the defendant later that evening at Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital.
The defendant, who did not have a permit to legally purchase or possess firearms in New York, was linked to the recovered firearm through DNA forensics and surveillance video evidence.
The case was before Judge Robert Prisco in Westchester County Court and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Marissa Morra-Wynn and Leigh Wellington, both of the Trials and Investigations Division.
Anna Young, Public Information Officer
(914) 995-6551
ayoung@westchesterda.net
