Philly D.A. adds to gun-violence task force

Bryan Lentz, the former Delaware County legislator who ran for Congress last year in the suburbs, is going to work in the city - for District Attorney Seth Williams.

Lentz, 46, of Swarthmore, will become chief supervising special assistant district attorney for the Gun Violence Task Force, a joint effort of Williams' office and the state Attorney General's Office.

The task force, created by the legislature in 2006, investigates gun violence, trafficking, and "straw" purchases in the Philadelphia region, said Brian Grady, the deputy district attorney who heads the unit.

Lentz ran Williams' unsuccessful campaign for district attorney in 2005. He said Williams approached him about the new job.

He is no stranger to the District Attorney's Office, having worked there as one of Lynne M. Abraham's assistant district attorneys from 1993 to 1999, a period when he spent much of his time prosecuting gang cases involving gun crimes.

As a state representative from 2006 until this year, Lentz, a Democrat, advocated closing the so-called Florida loophole that critics say allows some criminals to obtain gun permits out of state. A bill to close the loophole did not gain sufficient support in the legislature in 2010.

The joint task force, funded annually with $3 million from the state, has investigated more than 1,500 cases, led to the arrests of more than 500 people, and confiscated more than 1,000 guns since its inception, Grady said.

Lentz is to oversee a team of 27 investigators, three assistant district attorneys, and support staff. He will supervise the unit's investigations but also hopes to argue some of its cases in court.

"It's something I have a passion for, and, I think I can say modestly, I'm good at it," Lentz said Thursday.

"My first job out of law school was as a prosecutor. . . . It's a leadership challenge, and I thought I could do a good job at it."

Salary information was not immediately available.

Lentz, an Iraq war veteran, ran for Congress in the Seventh District last year but lost to former U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, a Republican.

Asked if he planned to run for anything else in the coming years, Lentz did not hesitate.

"No," he said, then laughed. "Is that certain enough?"