NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A 42-year-old South Carolina man will be sentenced in January after pleading guilty Friday to making straw purchases to then illegally sell guns in Connecticut, according to an announcement from U.S. States Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Officials learned in spring 2021 that 42-year-old Marquis Jerome Pollard was using straw purchasers to get guns in South Carolina, and then sell them in Connecticut, according to Avery. Investigators bought one of the guns in April 2021 for $1,500.

The gun was one of five that had been purchased at a pawn shop in Port Royal, South Carolina, a month before being sold in New Haven.

Pollard, of Yemassee, was arrested on May 3, 2021, in South Carolina. He had three handguns at the time.

Pollard had already been convicted for second-degree burglary, along with other crimes, which made it illegal for him to own a gun or ammunition that moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

He was charged in both Connecticut and South Carolina, with the South Carolina case later being transferred to Connecticut.

If convicted, he faces up to two decades in prison.

Quinn Mooring, of New Haven, who was accused of selling the gun with Pollard, pleaded guilty in January to possession of a firearm by a felon.