Christopher McPhaul, NYC man, accused of selling illegal guns to undercover detective, report says

(CBS) NEW YORK - Christopher "Country" McPhaul, a 43-year-old New York City man, has been indicted on more than 100 charges after allegedly making repeated illegal guns sales to an undercover NYPD detective, authorities announced Wednesday, reports CBS New York.

McPhaul is also accused of traveling the so-called "iron pipeline" to North Carolina to buy or steal weapons that he would then sell on the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y., authorities say.

Police said the 43-year-old sold 30 guns during 10 transactions over a six-month period to an undercover detective, reports the station.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly displayed most of the guns purchased by the undercover detective at a press conference.

Hynes reportedly said McPhaul communicated with the undercover officer via text messages in which he would write in "code."

"By August, he was sending volumes of text messages and pictures, a virtual gallery of gun photos providing different angles of a .22 caliber assault rifle," Commissioner Kelly said.

McPhaul was arrested earlier this month, reports the station.

"Once the NYPD ascertained that McPhaul had a serious customer, in other words a customer other than the undercover officer, he was arrested in East New York," said Kelly.

McPhaul's arrest comes two months after the city's largest gun seizure ever, when more than 250 illegal guns brought to New York from the Carolinas were taken off the street, CBS New York reported.

"The Carolinas are the second largest source after Virginia for crime guns ending up here in New York," said Kelly.

Nine out of ten guns used in crimes come from out of state, Kelly added.