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Charlie Tan admits to gun charges, but not to killing his father

Spectrum News

Charlie Tan, the 22 year old man who had earlier been accused of killing his father in their Pittsford home back in February of 2015 pleaded guilty on Friday to crimes related to the unlawful purchase of a gun that was used to kill Jim Tan.

Tan had originally been accused of shooting his father in 2015 with a shotgun. During a trial, the jury could not reach a verdict, and then a judge dismissed the criminal charges, determining that there wasn’t enough evidence.

Tan was scheduled to go on trial next week on federal firearms charges, but on Friday he pled guilty to causing a fellow Cornell University student to unlawfully buy a shotgun for him.

Sentencing is set for October 18 in Syracuse and tan faces up to 25 years in prison.

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley released a statement saying that Friday’s plead in federal court in Syracuse shows “there is finally justice” for Jim Tan.  Doorley says her office believed that their case strongly supported Tan’s role in the homicide of his father, and the plea, she said, “demonstrates that involvement.” Tan did not admit to killing his father in Friday’s plea.

Defense attorney James Nobles is quoted in the D&C as saying that the federal case is very different from the state case, and that Tan wanted to take responsibility for what he did do. Nobles said, “there’s a lot more behind this than just what happened, but why it happened. You’re certainly going to hear more about that over the coming months.”

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.