Chester woman first to be sentenced under Brad Fox Law

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) -- Officer Brad Fox was not in a Chester County courtroom Wednesday morning, but his presence certainly was.

More than two years after the Montgomery County father lost his life to an illegally purchased gun, 22-year-old Staci Dawson of Chester became the first person sentenced to prison in his name.

The Brad Fox Law sets tougher prosecuting standards against straw purchasers.

In Dawson's case she will begin serving 6 to 12 years for the straw purchase of two guns for her boyfriend, who is a convicted felon and now implicated in several murders.

Dawson had no prior criminal record.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan explains, "Staci Dawson provided handguns illegally to a convicted felon. Now Staci Dawson is a convicted felon herself."

The new state law is named in memory of Plymouth Township Police Officer Brad Fox - a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq who was murdered two years ago by a convicted felon who got his gun through a straw purchaser.

New mandatory minimum sentences sprang from that case.

Officer Fox's family came out today to hail the crackdown.

His father, Tom Fox, choked back tears when he explained, "What I want out of this law is for ... So that another family doesn't have to go through what we've gone through, and we're continuing to go through."

Brad's mother, Kathy, tells us, "Brad lived and died protecting his country and his community, and he's still working today."

A second straw purchaser was also sentenced today, but the district attorney says Staci Dawson should serve as the poster child.

"If you purchase a firearm, you give that firearm to a convicted felon, we are going to prosecute you. We are going to seek the minimum mandatory sentencing and you are going to spend time in the state penitentiary," Whelan said.