After being arrested, man explains how he made illegal gun deals in Macon

A Macon man admitted to using a simple strategy to give guns to youth, violent suspects and others prohibited from having them, according to records from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

After being arrested on Dec. 12, Prentis Braswell, 31, told officers that those people would go into local stores that sell guns, then tell him which gun they wanted, according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office that was obtained by The Telegraph through the Georgia Open Records Act.

“After choosing a firearm of their liking, (Braswell) would go back to whatever store and purchase the firearm or firearms for the individuals,” Sgt. Tatreaus Gray said in the incident report, which described deputies’ accounts of what happened.

Braswell said those individuals were supposed to pay him, but noted he usually got nothing in return, according to the incident report.

He bought over 20 guns and repeated this method from 2023 to December 2025, according to Gray, who works in the BCSO’s Gang Unit.

How officers traced the suspect

The investigation started when a gun serial number posted on social media matched one found in a violent crime, records show.

Law enforcement officers realized the person with the gun was under 21 years old and wasn’t the one who bought it from a store licensed to sell firearms.

The sheriff’s office searched the serial number on eTrace, a firearm tracing system used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It showed Braswell “recently purchased the firearm,” Gray said in the incident report.

“eTrace enables criminal investigators to quickly track down the origin and purchaser of crime guns,” the ATF website said.

Deputies learned Braswell was also the original buyer of a gun that ended up with a child during a traffic stop on Nov. 28, records showed.

Evidence found in suspect’s home

Deputies found physical evidence in plain sight when they served search and arrest warrants on Dec. 12, at a house in south Macon, according to the incident report.

There was a “handwritten ledger” of serial numbers and names of some people who received guns from Braswell, the incident report said.

Deputies also found receipts of Braswell’s gun purchases “in a box that had names of who he purchased the firearms for,” Gray said.

Deputies took a revolver, laptop and cellphone from the home, which they planned to investigate, according to the report.

He faces felony charges

Deputies found the evidence and arrested Braswell that day in the 3000 block of Bloomfield Drive, which is over half a mile away from his home, the incident report said.

Capt. Linda Howard, a public information officer, was working to answer The Telegraph’s request on why the warrants weren’t served at his home.

Deputies interviewed Braswell then booked him in the Bibb County Jail. He was “charged with two counts of attempting to illegally persuade a gun dealer to sell a firearm to someone other than the actual buyer,” said Chace Ambrose, a spokesperson for the BCSO. The sheriff’s office described him as a “straw purchaser” for buying guns in his name for others’ use, the incident report said. It’s a felony under both Georgia and federal law.

The case remains under investigation and more charges were pending, according to the incident report.

This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 6:01 AM.