PHILADELPHIA (May 5, 2025)—Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and members of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Gun Violence Task Force announced on Monday that Elizabeth Tejeda (DOB: 12/2/89), a New York resident, pleaded guilty in April to numerous charges for her role in an expansive straw purchasing scheme as part of an interstate and international gun trafficking operation.
Tejeda was convicted of eight counts of Straw Purchasing (F2) and eight counts of Unsworn Falsification (M2).
Investigators with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General launched an investigation into Tejeda’s activities after a firearm purchase she attempted to make in Pennsylvania was flagged. The case was subsequently referred to the DAO’s Gun Violence Task Force (GVTF) for further investigation. The GVTF discovered that Tejeda had made eight prior firearm purchases between November 2022 and April 2023. Notably, the purchased firearms were essentially identical in make and model, strongly indicating that the defendant was engaged in straw purchasing.
GVTF investigators obtained a warrant for Tejeda’s phone records, revealing that the defendant was driving from New York to Pennsylvania to purchase firearms before returning to New York. Tejeda was arrested on October 18, 2023, and investigators obtained another search warrant to perform a forensic analysis of her cell phone. That analysis recovered text messages from a co-conspirator directing her to purchase firearms on specified dates, photographs of the purchased firearms, and additional photographs of both a receipt for a microwave purchase and the dismantled microwave itself, which had been taken apart to smuggle the firearms.
Investigators also recovered evidence that the firearms had been shipped from the Northeast to a company in Miami, Florida, that frequently ships items to the Dominican Republic. Additionally, they found evidence of a wire transfer exceeding $3,000 from an unknown individual in the Dominican Republic to Tejeda.
Tejeda is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman on July 17, 2025. Her co-conspirator was apprehended by federal immigration authorities earlier this year before he could be prosecuted for his crimes.
“I commend the Agents of the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General who helped conduct an excellent investigation into Miss Tejeda’s nefarious activities,” said District Attorney Krasner. “I also want to thank the Gun Violence Task Force Investigative Analysts for their hard work in this case, and finally, Assistant District Attorney Kevin Bentancur for holding this defendant accountable. Unfortunately, her co-conspirator appears to have escaped accountability for his role in this gun trafficking plot. He was apprehended under President Trump’s rapacious deportation policy before my office could prosecute him.”
“I want to thank Agent Kathy Cerebe of the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General for her work in this investigation,” said Assistant District Attorney Bentancur. “I also want to thank GVTF Analysts Liubov Belskaya and Paul Haggerty for their excellent investigative analyses, which uncovered much of the vital evidence needed to secure a conviction in this case. The Gun Violence Task Force will continue its work to hold straw purchasers and others accountable who threaten public safety through the illicit use of firearms.”
CONTACT:
Dustin Slaughter, [email protected]
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The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is the largest prosecutor’s office in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest in the nation. It serves the more than 1.5 million residents of the City and County of Philadelphia, employing 600 lawyers, detectives, and support staff. The District Attorney’s Office is responsible for the prosecution of approximately 40,000 criminal cases annually. Learn more about the DAO by visiting PhillyDA.org.