George C. Sutch, 27, of Newark, was sentenced today to five years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz in Middlesex County.  He pleaded guilty on March 22 to a second-degree charge of unlawful possession of an assault firearm.  In pleading guilty, Sutch admitted that he possessed a Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle.  During an investigation by the New Jersey State Police, Sutch sold the assault rifle to an undercover detective for $450 at the Cheesequake Service Area on the Garden State Parkway in Sayreville on July 13, 2012.

During the investigation by the State Police, Sutch also sold a .25-caliber handgun to the undercover detective for $100 at Deer Head Lake in Lacey Township on July 18, 2012.

Deputy Attorney General Erik Daab prosecuted Sutch and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.

Sutch was among 57 defendants indicted last year as a result of an initiative launched by Attorney General Chiesa in which the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police are aggressively targeting gun violence through strategic investigations focused on seizing existing weapons in violent areas, disrupting the supply-chain of weapons trafficking into those areas, and aggressively prosecuting criminals involved in the illegal sale and possession of weapons. Most of the defendants are subject to the strict penalties applicable to Graves Act gun convictions, requiring mandatory periods of parole ineligibility of up to five years. Last year, the State Police Intelligence Section more than doubled the number of detectives assigned specifically to weapons trafficking, forming new Weapons Trafficking North and South Units and seizing over triple the number of guns seized by the Section in each of the two prior years.

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