A former Philadelphia prison guard is heading to state prison for selling guns to felons

A former Philadelphia corrections officer was sentenced to seven to 14 years in state prison Wednesday for illegally selling handguns to felons.

Amanda Barr, 38, tearfully apologized for her actions during her hearing before Montgomery County Judge Thomas P. Rogers, saying she didn’t fully grasp the consequences of her actions at the time.

“I am not a bad person,” Barr said. “I made an uneducated decision that cost me my life, my career, and my freedom.”

Barr, of Trevose, purchased seven handguns between January 2018 and March 2019 at gun shows at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, according to the affidavit of probable cause for her arrest. She reported two of the guns stolen to Bensalem police in February 2019, but she never accounted for five other guns, according to investigators.

One of them, a .22-caliber handgun, was recovered from Terrelle Johnson, the suspect in a December 2020 shooting. Johnson was not able to legally purchase or carry a gun because of prior felony convictions, the affidavit said. Another handgun was taken from Jason Augustus during a traffic stop in Philadelphia in February 2021. Like Johnson, Augustus was legally barred from owning a gun.

» READ MORE: A former Philly prison guard illegally sold guns to people barred from owning them, prosecutors said

In a November 2021 interview with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Barr said she had resold the guns legally through a third-party dealer, but was unable to provide proof of the transactions, the affidavit said. Instead, the agents found evidence that she had been selling the guns through social media, advertising each for sale for between $500 and $600.

After her arrest last year, Barr resigned from her position as a prison guard.

Barr’s attorney, Carol Sweeney, said her client had a troubled childhood and struggled with mental health issues later in life, including PTSD and bipolar disorder.

Sweeney asked Rogers for leniency in sentencing Barr, who she said had no previous criminal record and accepted responsibility for her behavior by pleading guilty in the gun case in September.

“I don’t think that you have a hardened criminal in front of you,” Sweeney said. “But it is a hard task to be faced with gun charges, given the climate in this area.”

In handing down his sentence, Rogers called Barr’s behavior “totally reprehensible” and said he “soundly rejects” the explanation that she didn’t understand the gravity of her actions.

“What is most distressing to me is that she was a member of the criminal justice system, and she knew these weapons were not going to be used at the firing range,” he said.