Nanuet man and woman caught with illegal firearms, parts: DA

Tao Zhang and Vivian Wu, 35, both of Nanuet and Rockland County residents, were charged Tuesday, July 2, in an ongoing illegal firearms investigation in the county.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh said the investigation began in May after his office received information about the shipment of an illegal firearms component to Nanuet.

According to Scott Waters of the District Attorney’s Office, detectives from the Rockland County District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit, who are sworn against each other as officers of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Task Force, launched an investigation into the intended recipients of the item.

The investigation revealed that numerous illegal gun parts were delivered to a house in Nanuet, Waters said.

Waters said they also discovered that Wu and Zhang, who was previously convicted of a crime in 2015, lived at the residence.

The agency, along with state and federal law enforcement agencies, executed a search warrant on July 2 and found two loaded and unserialized semi-automatic handguns, three high-capacity magazines, five major firearm components and a large quantity of unserialized phantom gun parts, Waters said.

The firearms were not securely locked and were within reach of two children, aged seven and nine, who live in the house, he added.

Zhang was accused of:

• Two cases of criminal possession of weapons
• Two counts of illegal possession of weapons/in relation to two semi-automatic 9mm pistols
• Three counts of illegal possession of a firearm (based on three high capacity magazines, two 9mm Glock style magazines with a 31 capacity and one 5.56/.223 caliber AR-15 magazine with a 30 capacity).
• Five counts of criminal possession of weapons for possession of essential components of a firearm
• 65 cases of illegal possession of weapons for non-serialized Ghost weapon parts
• Two cases of endangering the welfare of a child.

Wu was charged with:

• Two cases of criminal possession of weapons
• Two cases of illegal possession of weapons in connection with two semi-automatic 9 mm pistols
• Three counts of illegal possession of firearms/based on three high capacity magazines: two 9mm Glock style magazines with a capacity of 31 and one AR-15 5.56/.223 caliber magazine with a capacity of 30
• 65 cases of illegal possession of weapons for non-serialized Ghost weapon parts
• Two cases of endangerment of the child’s welfare

Tao and Wu were remanded to the Rockland County Jail on $50,000 bail, $100,000 surety and $200,000 partially secured bail.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Clarkstown and get free news updates.