COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- When Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. attempted to purchase a gun from Dance's Sporting Goods in Colonial Heights in July 2021, the licensed dealer ran a background check.
As it turns out, the Virginia State Police Firearms Transaction Center (FTC) denied Jones's request because of a pending felony charge out of Petersburg, according to Virginia State Police.
Jones had also recently been convicted of a gun crime in Chesterfield.
On February 22, 2021, Jones was pulled over near Boisseau Street and Third Avenue in Ettrick.
During the traffic stop, officers saw that he was carrying a gun but had no permit.
When they ran his name, they learned Jones was also wanted for fleeing the scene of an August 2020 crash in Petersburg.
"Jones was taken into custody for the two outstanding warrants and charged with misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, first offense," Liz Caroon, a spokesperson for the Chesterfield County Police Department, said.
The Chesterfield case would be adjudicated four months later when Jones was found guilty of the concealed carry charge, and given a 12-month suspended sentence.
While a misdemeanor does not prevent citizens in Virginia from purchasing a firearm, felonies do.
One of Jones's Petersburg charges, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, was a felony.
That would change on October 28, 2021, when the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor in Petersburg Circuit Court. Again, Jones was sentenced to 12 months in jail, but all 12 were suspended.
As a result, Jones was legally able to buy guns, which he did two different times in 2022.
Once the Virginia FTC blocks a gun purchase, it conducts an investigation into the denial to confirm the adjudication of the pending charge and to update the record if necessary.
However, VSP spokeswoman Corinne Geller said the agency still has an active investigation into Jones's attempted purchase in July 2021.
She said existing vacancies at Virginia State Police contributed to why the FTC never completed its investigation into Jones's pending charge.
The CBS 6 Problem Solvers asked VSP why the red flag on Jones's background check was apparently removed even though the FTC has not finished its investigation. VSP has not yet responded.
