Today, U.S. Attorney Pamela Marsh announced at a joint press conference at the Escambia County Sheriff’s office that an undercover investigation, “Operation Anything for a Buck,” had led to 75 defendants being charged with firearm, drug distribution and related offenses.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), ECSO and Pensacola Police Department initiated the operation in February 2011 when they opened a secondhand thrift store in the Brownsville community. Quickly word got out that the new store, called “Anything for a Buck,” would buy anything, including guns and drugs. Over the next eight months, undercover agents purchased 270 firearms, including handguns, rifles, assault rifles and sawed-off shotguns. Many of those weapons were on display at the press conference.
According State Attorney Bill Eddins, this is one of the largest gun seizures based on the size of the community in the nation. Sheriff Morgan credited Lt. Ray Briggs, the ECSO Officer in Charge, and ATF Special Agent Randy Beach for running the operation. Morgan said the sting operation was in response to the spike in gun-related crimes in 2010 and early 2011 and it had been developed from a strategic plan developed by Chief Deputy Larry Aiken.