A former New York City teacher who sold untaxed cigarettes and guns in a massive smuggling ring that he thought was trying to raise money for Hamas was sentenced Thursday to 18 years behind bars, according to prosecutors.
Theophilis "Mike" Burroughs was sentenced after pleading guilty to weapons, tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges, according to Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.
Burroughs, a former music teacher at Stuyvesant High School, tried to sell a small arsenal to police in the Bronx in 2009, believing the undercover cops were supporters of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, according to Johnson.
He also bought 27,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes, sold oxycodone to investigators and offered to sell them explosives, night vision goggles and gunpowder, the prosecutor said.
Throughout the investigation, Johnson said, Burroughs was heard saying he supported Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
"It is particularly disturbing when someone who is tasked with educating our young commits crimes. It is more disturbing that he did so complicit in the belief he was promoting terrorism," Johnson said.
Sixteen other suspects were also charged in the smuggling sting, and police in recovered several weapons from a cache in the upstate of South Carolina.
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Burroughs still faces weapons, cigarette and drug charges in New Jersey, Johnson said.
