PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia woman has been charged with the straw purchase of a gun that a minor used in a shooting.
“Sadly, this investigation ... began with a shooting in which a minor was involved,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner.
The shooting happened in November 2021, and the minor was also shot in that incident. That case is in juvenile court.
“Based on the firearm that was recovered from the defendant, agents within the Attorney General’s office were able to trace that firearm back to the purchaser, who is Krista Woody. Woody purchased the firearm a day before the shooting,” Assistant District Attorney Jezreel Moore explained.
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Woody, 35, was arrested Friday and charged with the illegal purchase of a firearm, corrupting a minor, and related offenses for the alleged straw purchase made with cash.
Moore, who also works with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Gun Violence Task Force, said Woody didn’t stop there.
“She further gave a statement that she purchased two other additional firearms. Those two additional firearms were also given to minors.”
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Krasner called such purchases an ongoing problem.
”We know there’s a lot of straw purchasing activity, but I’m not going to tell you it's brand new because it’s been going on every decade since I became a lawyer and decades before that,” said Krasner.
Woody is being held on $500,000 bail. She faces a preliminary hearing on August 9.