Attorney General files new firearms charges against Ross man

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General filed two new felony firearms charges against Benjamin Ford on Oct. 21. The 44-year-old Ross man is already awaiting trial on earlier accusations related to the sale of handguns. The new counts focus on a specific weapon he purchased in Marshall that investigators later found in New Jersey.

Ford is accused of buying a used Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 at Keystone Shooting Center in Marshall on Oct. 23, 2022. According to court records, this transaction occurred after law enforcement had already recovered three of his previous firearms. The complaint states that the gun was recovered on March 20, 2026, during a search of a man in Newark, N.J.

A New Jersey forensics lab restored the obliterated serial number on the Smith & Wesson. The criminal complaint notes that Ford filled out state police record of sale paperwork for the purchase. He signed the document indicating the provided facts were true and answered yes to a question asking if he was the actual buyer of the firearm.

Ford was denied bail and deemed a threat to the community when he was arraigned on these new charges on Oct. 22. He remains held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond. A preliminary hearing for the new case is scheduled for Nov. 4 before District Judge Matthew J. Brungo.

The original case against Ford began in March after police recovered six of the more than 200 handguns he bought over 11 years. Three states recovered those specific weapons. An attorney general special agent assigned to the Allegheny County Gun Violence Task Force filed the initial complaint. That agent is also assigned to the newest charges.

Records show that only two of the 205 handguns Ford bought in Pennsylvania have documented sales, transfers, or trades to another buyer. No such records exist for the other 203 firearms. For each of the seven recovered guns, Ford was the last known buyer. The people found possessing those recovered weapons were not legally allowed to buy or possess a firearm.

Ford is originally from New Jersey, according to the complaint. He did not report any of the seven recovered firearms as stolen. This includes a 9 mm handgun he bought in November 2021 that police recovered during a traffic stop in Swissvale in January 2025. Ford claimed a home break-in led to the theft of that Swissvale gun, but he never filed a report. Ross police had no records of firearms being stolen from his home.

Authorities searched Ford's home on March 26, the day he was arrested on the initial trafficking charges. None of the 205 firearms he had purchased were found during that search. Timothy Joseph Lyon, the attorney listed in the initial case, did not respond to a request for comment on Oct. 26. A status hearing for the original charges is set for Feb. 22.