Feds bust gun running operation from Toledo to Canada

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A gun running operation out of Toledo across the Northern border into Canada has been busted.

Guns were stored in Toledo and left the city, heading to Canada is what was alleged in documents uncovered by the I-Team leading to federal charges against a woman from Canada.

If you were to think about firearms being smuggled across a border to the U.S. you’d probably think Mexico but it turns out some leave near Reynolds Road in Toledo for Canada.

The end of the line for firearms destined for Canada ended on the Ohio Turnpike. That’s when according to an affidavit, Customs and Border Protection agents spotted Sharise Destiny-Anne Williams boarding a flight to Detroit Metro Airport.

Williams told Customs she was headed to a hotel on Secor Road in Toledo. She exited the plane with a black duffel bag, white purse and no checked luggage. Instead of going to the Toledo hotel she ended up at a home near Reynolds Road in Toledo when she got into another vehicle and they headed to the turnpike eastbound toward Cleveland.

When the Ohio State Highway Patrol pulled the vehicle over for speeding near Fremont, both the driver and Williams consented to a search.

In a piece of luggage investigators found “dozens of black socks containing pistols.” The affidavit then says beneath the socks were several AR style and AK style rifles. In all, three rifles, 31 pistols and 121 rounds of ammunition were found. Investigators questions Williams and she told them she’s paid to fly from Canada to the US where she travels to Toledo to meet a driver.

She went on to say she accompanies the driver and various bags to New York state, leaves the bags at different locations in New York and then travels back to Canada through a port of entry land border crossing.

Williams told investigators she was transporting something illegal across the U.S. and that the “product” was headed to Canada.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tracks illegal firearms found in Canada that trace back to the U.S. In the last five years, the highest amount was 2019 when more than 7,000 guns were found. In the most recent data, 2021, it was just over 3,000.

At this point, we’ve not been able to find any charges against the driver of the vehicle. Williams is facing that federal charge of smuggling goods from the United States. No new court date has been set for her.

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