Gun-Packing Criminal Brags: 'I Just Paid A Dime To Come Home!'

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

He was caught by the cops cruising around Wednesday night with a .40 caliber Glock handgun loaded with 15 live rounds, including one in the chamber.

He's got four prior arrests for simple assault, aggravated assault, and a couple of alleged rapes.

On Wednesday, Marquine Jones, known as "Quan," was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of a firearm with a altered serial number, possession of a prohibited firearm, carrying firearms in public, and possession of an instrument of crime.

The cops wanted high bail, but at a preliminary hearing yesterday, Jones, 25, of Southwest Philadelphia, walked out of court a free man. That was after the bail commissioner set bail at $100,000, and Jones would only have to post $10,000.

Since this is Philly, the criminals are getting increasingly brazen about how lax the prosecution of gun crimes is under District Attorney Larry Krasner, a criminal's best friend. After he was back on the street, Jones posted an Instagram rap where he bragged: "Damn you bitch-ass nigger, I just paid a dime to come home, a hundred thou, ten percent."

"You do the fucking math nigger. I cashed out."

A seasoned former prosecutor who reviewed Jones's court records, said the Instagram post was Jones's way of telling "the criminal underworld, you can get caught with a gun and get out within hours."

To add insult to injury, after Jones got through bragging, another pal of his posted a second Instagram video where he showed off the paperwork for Jones's release.

Jones's first arrest was in 2006 at age 11. Five years later, he was found to be an adjudicated delinquent -- the equivalent of a guilty verdict for a juvenile -- for the crimes of forcible compulsion, sexual assault, indecent assault, and unlawful restraint to cause serious bodily injury.

He was arrested again in 2011 at age 16 and charged with forcible rape, sexual assault, and eight other charges, but all those charges were subsequently withdrawn. 

He was arrested again in 2013 at age 18 and charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and simple assault, but all those charges were subsequently withdrawn.

On July 5, 2019, he was arrested and charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment, but both charges were subsequently withdrawn and marked as a limit access case, so the press and public can't see it.

Jones's latest arrest happened at 8:25 p.m. on Aug. 19, after police in a marked van observed a 2006 grey Acura RSX traveling southbound on Chester Avenue with no operable headlights. The cops stopped the driver in the 6000 block of Regent Street and arrested Jones.

He subsequently told police he purchased the firearm a month ago from another unidentified man and that he caries the firearm for protection.

"Every gun should have a serial number so you could trace it," the seasoned former prosecutor said. "Clearly that's a dirty gun that was probably stolen and/or used to commit other crimes."

"With the state of the city, with so many deaths and so many guns, the citizens are begging for the guns to be taken off the streets," the seasoned former prosecutor said. He added that the district attorney's office should have asked for bail of at least $500,000.

How much bail did the D.A. ask for? How hard did they fight to keep Jones in jail? 

We don't know. That's because, as they have for more than a year now, District Attorney Krasner, and Jane Roh, his alleged spokesperson, did not respond to a request for comment.

Also, a police source said that Jones's bail may have been unsecured. If that's true, it meant that Jones would have walked out the door without having to part with a dollar. He would have just been required to sign a promissory note saying that if he didn't show up for his next court appearance, he would have to pay $10,000.

Meanwhile, the carnage in the streets continues. This past weekend, the city was the scene of 40 shootings and 10 stabbings, resulting in 13 homicides. The murder rate, on a record pace, was up to 278, a 31 percent jump over last year. 

On Wednesday, there were 15 more shootings in Philadelphia, including one homicide.

On Thursday night, there were 11 more shootings in Philadelphia, including 7 homicides. 

The murder rate is now up to 289 bodies, and here comes another warm weekend. This morning, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw went on Fox 29's Good Day to discuss what could be done to stop the violence that so far has resulted in more than one hundred children being shot in the crossfire.

Host Mike Jerrick served up a big softball to the police commissioner when he talked on camera about the refrain he keeps hearing from cops, about who's really responsible for the escalating gun violence.

"This D.A., this Larry Krasner guy keeps letting prisoners get out of jail and they end up shooting or killing somebody," Jerrick began. Then he asked the police commissioner, "Do you have conversations with the D.A." where you say, "Come on, we've got to keep these bad guys in jail?"

"Yeah, I have conversations with the D.A." every week, Outlaw responded. Every week, she said, the cops are out doing their job, taking away an average of about 77 guns off the street. But the criminals the cops arrest for illegally carrying guns wind up right back on the street, Outlaw said, where they commit more crimes.

 "We're seeing a lot of these shooters as repeat offenders," Outlaw told Jerrick. "At what point do we say some of these folks need to go to jail and stay in jail. There has to be consequences" for carrying an illegal gun in Philadelphia. 

But when it came to the D.A., Outlaw decided to hold her fire.

"The D.A. is but one part of it," she told Jerrick. "We need to look at all prosecutorial bodies," she said, and then she suggested that the feds should be taking over and prosecuting some of the more serious gun cases.

Like The Philadelphia Inquirer, Outlaw, probably at the behest of Mayor Kenney, decided to cover for Krasner.

"I know a lot of folks are looking at me to point fingers and point blame," she told Jerrick, adding, "We all have a role to play in this criminal justice system."

On camera, the police commissioner talked about her new collaboration with the D.A.'s office where they've got Krasner's corrupt and incompetent assistant district attorneys hanging out at every police district, so they can supposedly get a better look at the carnage on the streets.

Yo Commish, here's a news flash. "Cooperating" with Larry Krasner will only get you more gun-toting criminals back on the streets, more bullets flying, more innocent kids shot in the crossfire, and more dead bodies piling up on the streets.

And more official handwringing, and more empty speeches from politicians like Krasner and Kenney.

As for the newly emancipated Jones, he declared on his Instagram post that he's going right back to his life of crime.

And why not? According to Jones's rap sheet, there are no consequences.

"I can't stop," Jones said on Instagram. "I can't stop."