MONROE COUNTY, PA – Thirty firearms including 4 ghost guns and several assault rifles have been seized from a Monroe County couple, as per the announcement made by Attorney General Michelle Henry.
The accused, Melissa Saldana and Ramon Roldan, Jr., both 39, have been embroiled in a straw purchasing operation. The modus operandi involved Saldana procuring firearms on behalf of Roldan, a man with multiple felony convictions, rendering him ineligible to own guns.
They face multiple charges under the Uniform Firearms Act and false swearing charges. Currently, Roldan’s bail is set at $250,000, while Saldana’s is considerably less, at $20,000.
Attorney General Henry said, “Every straw purchase jeopardizes public safety, putting firearms in the grasp of those the law has deemed unfit to wield them. This duo made a conscious effort to dodge the system, hoarding an arsenal that included ghost guns and assault rifles in a storage unit, all intended for a convicted felon. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our Gun Violence Task Force and allied law enforcement entities, we’ve managed to neutralize this threat to our community.”
Details from the investigation reveal that over the past two years, Saldana purchased at least 20 firearms, many identical in make and model.
When confronted, she displayed ignorance about the specifics of the firearms and was untruthful about their whereabouts.
The culmination of the investigation led authorities to a storage unit under Roldan’s name. A thorough search yielded 27 firearms, and Roldan’s subsequent cooperation during his arrest led to the discovery of 2 more. Additionally, a firearm was retrieved from Saldana.
The stash notably contained 22 handguns acquired by Saldana, including four ghost guns (polymer80 guns) and several suppressed assault-style rifles.