Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jezerel Huston was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bringing dozens of guns into Queens. Huston pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree. He and codefendant Teddy Gaston were arrested in September 2025 after an undercover investigation resulted in the purchase of 59 guns. An additional 18 guns were seized upon the defendants’ arrest.

District Attorney Katz said: “Our number one priority must be stopping the flow of dangerous weapons into the borough of Queens. Our investigation with law enforcement partners resulted in the seizure of 77 guns that will never be used here to cause harm. This defendant trafficked guns along the Iron Pipeline and into our communities with no regard for the potential violence and carnage these weapons create. I thank my prosecutors, the detectives and the undercover officer who helped build this case.”

Huston, 42, of Macon, Georgia, pleaded guilty on June 24 to criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree in satisfaction of the indictment. Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino sentenced him yesterday to 10 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

Gaston, aka JD Yikes, 40, of South Jamaica is scheduled to appear in court September 3.

DA Katz said that, according to the indictment and investigation, members of the Queens District Attorney’s office, the NYPD and Homeland Security Investigations began a firearms trafficking investigation involving the defendants around March 2025.

Huston obtained firearms in Georgia and transported them to Gaston, who would allegedly then sell the weapons in Queens.

Between April 7, 2025, and August 29, 2025, an undercover officer conducted eight controlled buys with the defendants. Many of the purchases took place at a McDonald’s parking lot on Merrick Boulevard and 244^th Street in Rosedale.

The transactions resulted in the seizure of 59 firearms including assault weapons and a ghost gun, ammunition and narcotics including fentanyl and cocaine. An additional 18 guns were seized when the defendants were arrested.

Assistant District Attorney Candice Smith of the District Attorney’s Strategic Investigations Bureau is prosecuting the case with assistance from Assistant District Attorney Kieran Linehan, Section Chief of the Major Narcotics Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Tara DiGregorio, Bureau Chief, Rachel Stein, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Investigations Joseph T. Conley III.