Man gets six years in Conowingo gun case

ELKTON — A man who was caught illegally possessing guns and ammunition when investigators raided his Conowingo residence in September 2023 has received a six-year prison term, according to Cecil County Circuit Court records.

Cecil County Circuit Court Administrative Judge Brenda A. Sexton imposed a 10-year sentence on the defendant — Jeffrey Alan Wolfe, 42 — for possession of a firearm by a person convicted of felony or a disqualifying crime during a courtroom hearing on Wednesday (Sept. 25) and then suspended half of that penalty, court records show. That offense carries a mandatory five-year sentence.

Sexton also imposed a consecutive five-year sentence on Wolfe for transferring a firearm/frame without a serial number and then suspended all but one year and one day of that penalty, according to court records.

Wolfe pleaded guilty to those two charges in July, as part of a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed to dismiss nine related counts.

In addition, Sexton ordered Wolfe to serve three years of supervised probation after completing his six-year term in a Maryland Department of Corrections prison. The judge gave Wolfe credit for eight months that he served as a pre-trial inmate in the Cecil County Detention Center after his arrest.

The investigation leading to Wolfe’s convictions and six-year prison term started at approximately 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2023, when Maryland State Police investigators and Cecil County Drug Task Force agents raided Wolfe’s residence in the unit block of Woodside Drive, police reported.

Investigators had developed Wolfe as a suspect after receiving information that he had ordered a kit containing parts to assemble a Polymer 80 assault-style rifle, as part of a purchase in which he listed his Conowingo residence as the billing address and then had the kit shipped to a Pennsylvania address, police said. In June 2022, state lawmakers made it illegal to ship such gun parts to buyers who live in Maryland, police added. (Known as “ghost guns,” Polymer 80 weapons are homemade firearms that lack serial numbers, which is illegal.)

Investigators also learned that Wolfe is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition because of his criminal record, which is marked by four drug convictions and one conviction for illegal possession of a firearm, court records show.

During the court-approved search of Wolfe’s residence and property, investigators seized two .12 gauge shotguns, one of which was loaded; a box of ammunition and a cardboard box bearing a shipping label and containing “Polymer 80 AR-15 style lower receiver, accessories, trigger mechanism, recoil spring, and butt stock,” according to court records.

“It should be noted that the Polymer 80 lower receiver was drilled and milled out, thus making it fully manufactured,” the lead investigator wrote in the original charging document.

Investigators arrested Wolfe at the scene, police reported.